Sport – From Champions League to Russia World Cup

by Alvin Corneal

Liverpool and Real Madrid will face each other in the Champions League final later this month. The competition has brought much joy and sadness, especially for those who support popular teams Barcelona and Manchester City which have been eliminated.

Much can be said of the numerous factors that could have affected the results in some of the matches, especially clubs that have key players dealing with injuries, loss of fitness or physical fatigue.

It is a great pity that these players who are to represent their countries in the FIFA World Cup in Russia come June, do not have adequate time for proper rest after the rigours of club competition. They will also have to quickly readjust their methods of play with their national squad, after they have spent at least ten months listening to the voice and soccer strategy from one coach. They now have to switch towards another concept of the game and, by extension, the style of play. Some may even find their powers of concentration wilting tremendously because of an exhausted mind.

Yet fans worldwide eagerly await watching players like Lionel Messi and Kun Aguero of Argentina; Neymar, Coutinho, Gabriel Jesus and Fernandinho of Brazil; Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku of Belgium; Ronaldo of Portugal, and the very talented Spanish trio of David Silva, Andrés Iniesta and Pedro.

The injury challenges of the top football nations could allow the minnows of international football to progress, like Iceland, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Panama and the surprise team from Brazil World Cup 2014, Costa Rica.

It will be silly to challenge the ability of Uruguay after having seen them play some quality football in the three previous tournaments. Their coach Washington Tavares has proven to be a master strategist and sound motivator. He has shown the world that despite their population size as compared with the other South American nation, Uruguay can find very talented players.

I expect some new football stars will emerge from this year’s tournament. We all remember Columbia’s Jaime Rodriguez, who shocked the world at the last World Cup with his exceptional ability to score goals. He went on to play for Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.

The Germans are the most scientific planners and utilise their players intelligently, regardless of the packed match schedules in the Bundesliga. They are likely to provide a consistent quality of play.

1966 World Cup champions England may be silently confident in their array of strikers with the speedy Marcus Rashford and Raheem Sterling. However, their defense may be a worry. Wing back Kyle Walker, although very steady in his overall game, may not find fellow defenders Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, and John Stones capable of gelling well enough to deal with the many players from the top teams.

Mo Salah, the Egyptian superstar has already been earmarked due to his extraordinary goal scoring ability for Liverpool during the course of the English Premier League. The other teams in Egypt’s group may well have taken note of how well the defense of Italian club Roma handled him in the second leg of the Champions League semifinal, where Salah found no opportunity in 90 minutes to produce an iota of a chance to score.

We shall have a closer look after the World Cup squads are selected and observe their team preparation after such a hectic season.