« Doing It Right: Glo-CAF African Football Awards. | Main | Who Goes Through? »
To the Injured!
By Toyin | February 19, 2009
His broken leg was held together only by his skin and the socks he wore. It was a sickening challenge and a most unfortunate injury. Within a flash, the career that took off about five months earlier became threatened and a glorious dream suddenly at risk of death! This is the apt description of what happened to Eduarda Da Silva, Brazilian born Croatian striker turned Arsenal’s fox in the box!
Football, the beautiful game is replete with stories of terrible injuries that have cut short otherwise promising careers of many. Most notable among these was that of Marco Van Basten, a striker extraordinaire!
When the game is played at the frenetic pace that is the lot of today’s top teams, little can be done on minimizing the effects of challenges sometimes innocuous or deliberate. The rate of mileage coverage by individual players has increased exponentially over the years and this is not without it’s risks.
Many injuries occurred as a result of fair challenges but some due to deliberate acts of oppositions. While the latter is far and in-between, the former is almost a daily occurrence. And in truth, some players are just crocked; whether they are challenged or not, they just get injured.
Unlike other sporting careers, footballers may have only a few years to display their talent before something happens to them. A player like Daniel Amokachi of Nigeria got injured at the peak of his career and before one knew what was happening; he was forced into early retirement. Similarly, Emmanuel Amuneke did not recover from a tackle he received in an African World Cup qualifier.
Too numerous to mention, the plight of an injured player transcends the fact of not playing or the reality of inaction. Sometimes, it bothers on the sanctity and psychological wellness of the one concerned. Most often times than not, the scar of that injury, when healed, may not go away forever.
It is not unheard of to hear of ‘career threatening injury’ when the length of the layoff is put into consideration. For instance, a simple fracture of a metatarsal may take up to three months to heal and for full training to commence. A broken leg may take up to a year to mend depending on whether other muscles and tendons are affected or not.
In all, the footballer is (hopefully) expected to make his return and continue where he left off! If this was not the case, he is derided and eventually consigned to the dustbin of history. This aptly describes the story of Gaizka Mendiatta, one time Valencia and Spanish ‘middle of the pack’ enforcer.
Having transferred from Spain to Lazio in Italy, his game took a turn for the worse when he kept getting injured and before one could say SOS, a great player became a part time contributor. Today, Mendiatta is not playing football again while some of his contemporaries are painting Europe red with their displays.
Marco Van Basten must have gone under the knife more than five times hoping for the best until he finally realized that the time is gone and he needed to go home. And so, injury took away, too early; too soon a born finisher-Arguably footballs’ greatest striker of all times.
While some (very lucky ones) have been able to wind down their careers on their own terms, most have been helped along by injuries! Players like to finish on their own terms but too often as with the case, injuries declines.
Having successfully made his return from a career threatening injury and scoring a brace in tow, we at www.9jafans.com salute ‘Dudu’ and wish him all the best going forward.
This is dedicated to all the players out there from Owen Hargreeves to Micheal Essien to Theo Wallcot to Ruud Van Nistelrooy to Gabriel Millito etc; it is darkest before dawn and you are about to break forth again!
Topics: Biz Football, Hot Stars, Cold Sands, Premiership, Serie A, Success Pills, The Champion |
February 20th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
I am very happy for Eduardo; it’s unbeliavable the kind of injury he suffered. Thank God he’s back and kicking again.
February 20th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Dudu is back for good and that’s great for Arsenal. I pray for quickened recovery to all injured players.
March 8th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
There was also this person (forgot who) who got injured so badly by Roy Keane he had to retire
March 28th, 2009 at 8:45 pm
I assume you are referring to Mark Haageland 7amood11; one of the few bad things Roy did.