leonidas
08 Dec 2005, 03:54 AM
As we all know, injuries can often destroy your teams chances of progressing in the World Cup. We can look to France in 02 when Zidane went down just before the World Cup. Or Paraguay in that very tournament when Roque Santa Cruz was hurt, and pretty much killed their chances of any offensive threat against Germany.
Here are some teams, whom I feel, might run into problems next year if injuries becomes an issue.
USA: It's obvious that the loss of Donovoan will pretty much kill any chances for the US. No brainer. But the fact that the MLS is done for the year makes an injury to Donovan rather unlikely. Arena just has to be careful not to use him irresponsibly, like what happened to France against South Korea before the WC02 with Zidane. I guess Beasley would be another big loss. Hamstring injuries can nag a player for months and to be honest, I dont think we will see Beasley fully recover from his injury. that's too bad.
Brazil: Brazil are fortunate to have tons of depth at pretty much every position except for defense. Ronaldinho would be the obvious worry and his loss would be a huge blow. But, unlike his namesake, he's never really run into any major fitness issues. A player like Juninho Pernamabucano would be a suitable replacement, though, no where near as good as #10 obviously. I think the loss of Ronaldo, actually, would be bigger. His health has been off and on this season for Real and knowing his history, you never know. Brazil are ok up front, although they are definitely hurt with the loss of #3 striker Ricardo Oliveira. I'm still not comfortable with Robinho...and Fred's status is wide open right now. But we'll see...
England: Any injury to Owen or Rooney would be devasting. No Rooney against Portugal pretty much killed them. Crouch doesnt exactly send shivers down my spine. Lampard and Gerrard have been injury free as of late so I dont see any reason for them to go down. Lampard especially has the privilege of playing for Chelsea, a team with enormous depth, so even if he is injured, we wont see him rushed back into action. Many teams commit this sin.
France: Well, Zidane is the obvious one here. He still isnt completely healthy, and as a guy who is pretty much using a walker these days, I doubt we will ever see him at "full strength." France still need him and all their other aging quality fossils like Thuram. Just look at their performances early on in qualifying without these guys. And, any injury to Trez or Henry would be a blow. France werent the same without Henry after his red-card in 02. The emergence of Anelka could change things though.
There are other teams out there and well, I dont them well enough to give a real opinion on them. But yeah, in my opinion, the only two teams that are able to withstand any key injuries are Brazil and the Netherlands.
Here are some teams, whom I feel, might run into problems next year if injuries becomes an issue.
USA: It's obvious that the loss of Donovoan will pretty much kill any chances for the US. No brainer. But the fact that the MLS is done for the year makes an injury to Donovan rather unlikely. Arena just has to be careful not to use him irresponsibly, like what happened to France against South Korea before the WC02 with Zidane. I guess Beasley would be another big loss. Hamstring injuries can nag a player for months and to be honest, I dont think we will see Beasley fully recover from his injury. that's too bad.
Brazil: Brazil are fortunate to have tons of depth at pretty much every position except for defense. Ronaldinho would be the obvious worry and his loss would be a huge blow. But, unlike his namesake, he's never really run into any major fitness issues. A player like Juninho Pernamabucano would be a suitable replacement, though, no where near as good as #10 obviously. I think the loss of Ronaldo, actually, would be bigger. His health has been off and on this season for Real and knowing his history, you never know. Brazil are ok up front, although they are definitely hurt with the loss of #3 striker Ricardo Oliveira. I'm still not comfortable with Robinho...and Fred's status is wide open right now. But we'll see...
England: Any injury to Owen or Rooney would be devasting. No Rooney against Portugal pretty much killed them. Crouch doesnt exactly send shivers down my spine. Lampard and Gerrard have been injury free as of late so I dont see any reason for them to go down. Lampard especially has the privilege of playing for Chelsea, a team with enormous depth, so even if he is injured, we wont see him rushed back into action. Many teams commit this sin.
France: Well, Zidane is the obvious one here. He still isnt completely healthy, and as a guy who is pretty much using a walker these days, I doubt we will ever see him at "full strength." France still need him and all their other aging quality fossils like Thuram. Just look at their performances early on in qualifying without these guys. And, any injury to Trez or Henry would be a blow. France werent the same without Henry after his red-card in 02. The emergence of Anelka could change things though.
There are other teams out there and well, I dont them well enough to give a real opinion on them. But yeah, in my opinion, the only two teams that are able to withstand any key injuries are Brazil and the Netherlands.