European tournaments start as pre-season for stars who go to the Cup

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Gabriel Jesus had already lined up in defense of Crystal Palace, but ran out of angle to finish. Minutes later, however, Saka took a corner from the right, Zinchenko propped up, and Gabriel Martinelli, in the small area, deflected to the back of the net.

In the 19th minute of the first, it was up to one of Arsenal’s Brazilian strikers to score the first goal in the opening round of the Premier League —​his team won 2-0.

On Friday (5), the English, French and German leagues kicked off the 2022/23 calendar. The season foresees a stop before halfway through the tournaments, when the World Cup will be played.

In Italy and Spain, the opening matches will be next weekend. On average, each of the leagues will have 16 rounds until November 21, when the World Cup starts in Qatar. In addition, Uefa also shared the Champions League, with the first phase played until November 2, and the knockout stage, only in 2023.

As a result, the trend is that most players who will compete in the World Cup have, at most, 22 official games accumulated until the beginning of the tournament. For fitness experts, this should get them into competition at their peak of fitness.

“When you’re in the middle of the season, you reach the best physical standards, both in strength and power and in an athlete’s speed”, he tells Sheet Marco Aurélio Schiavo, physical trainer for Palmeiras.

The professional also states that it is at this stage that athletes reach the so-called “peak performance”, in which “the accumulation of games is not enough to generate damage or physical stress”. “So, the athletes can present themselves for the World Cup period in the best phase of their performance”, says Schiavo.

As most of the players who will be called up by Tite for the World Cup play in European football, the coach also counts on this income gain.

“In terms of fitness, it is unquestionable that it will be better [disputar a Copa] in November [no meio da temporada]especially for those who play in Europe,” said the national team coach.

Historically, that makes a difference. Zidane, for example, arrived in Asia in 2002 with 50 games behind him. He had a muscle injury and was only able to play once at the Worlds. He displayed a fraction of the football with which he had led Real Madrid to the Champions League title that year.

In the same edition, Ronaldo appeared for the national team after a season in which he made only 17 matches, three of which were complete. In Japan and South Korea, he scored eight goals and immortalized himself with the title and the artillery.

The risk of injury, however, cannot be ruled out. Psychologists and physical trainers explain that if the body is working in an excessive degree of tension caused, for example, by anxiety, the muscles will be more rigid and more susceptible to bruising.

In a World Cup year, the fear of getting hurt and losing the opportunity to be called up to defend your country is one of the main triggers for anxiety.

To minimize this risk, thinking not only about the World Cup but also about the European club season, the main teams have prepared special physical preparation schedules.

Current champions of the Champions League, Real Madrid have divided their calendar into three phases of physical preparation, for example. The first comprised the beginning of the pre-season, in the first week of July, and runs until the next 10th, the date on which the team competes in the European Supercup with Eintracht Frankfurt.

The second phase comes with the Cup. From November 21 to December 4, players who do not compete in the tournament in Qatar will undergo a new training period in Madrid.

“The break in training in November due to the World Cup will be good for me, because we will be able to do another pre-season and work a little more on the players who are left behind”, says Antonio Pintus, physical trainer for the team led by Carlo Ancelotti.

From December 4th until the end of the year, everyone who competes in the World Cup for their national teams will return for a period of rest and adjustments. In the third phase, in January 2023, there will be specific conditioning for those who return from Qatar more exhausted. “It will be completely different for the two groups”, says Pintus.

His work was decisive last season, as Real’s physical strength showed in the final stretch of the season, with triumphs in the Spanish League and Champions League.

In England, the teams have similar plans and are also planning to play some friendlies with athletes who are not going to Qatar.

Names like Erling Haaland, Riyad Mahrez, Andy Robertson, Dejan Kulusevski and Jorginho are among the most important athletes who are certain that they will not be in the Cup. Their countries did not qualify.

“The World Cup is going to be played at a bad time. If you go to the final or to play for third place, you are already quite busy. Everyone knows the calendar is not right,” complained Liverpool manager Jürgen. Klopp

According to Marco Aurélio Schiavo, clubs that have many players called up will need to do individualized work with the athletes to equalize everyone’s physical preparation.

Furthermore, he adds, “ideally, the athlete [fora da Copa]from a certain moment of the vacation, start doing an activity focused on performance training”, precisely to present yourself at the same level as the summoned ones.

Both at the World Cup and after the World Cup, the physical preparation of the players should be the main concern in the European season that has just started.

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