Managers tempt fate that star football players are worth putting their hopes on

First Luis Suarez looked like missing out. Then it was Diego Costa.

Italy captain Riccardo Montolivo and Mexico’s Luis Montes suffered heartbreaking injuries on Saturday night and will not be going to Brazil.

With the World Cup weeks away, players have started dropping like flies.

While Montolivo and Montes were instantly ruled out, Suarez has been included in Uruguay’s squad despite having had an operation a week ago, while Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque has also taken a risk with Costa.

There will be others who miss out before the tournament kicks off on June 12. This is hardly the first time an international manager, nervously eyeing a World Cup, has taken a chance on an injured star player. Suarez and Costa are certainly worth the risk.

Rarely has it proven an inspired decision.

When it comes to resting their hopes on the shoulders, or metatarsals, of crocked players, few countries have carved out an unwanted niche the way England have.

In 1982, Ron Greenwood included the injured Kevin Keegan and Trevor Brooking, by far his two most important players, in his final 22 for the World Cup in Spain.

Keegan and Brooking enjoyed a holiday in the sun, but not much football – only 25 minutes to be precise. In a desperate attempt to win England’s last match against Spain by the required two goals, Greenwood turned to the duo.

It proved an ill-fated, ill-advised cameo, Keegan famously missing a header from a couple of metres as England exited the competition with a 0-0 draw.

Twenty years later, David Beckham’s injury in a Uefa Champions League match against Bayer Leverkusen put his involvement in the World Cup at risk. Overnight the word metatarsal entered the everyday lexicon as the England fans waited on injury updates.

Not that Beckham would have worried about his place in the squad. The star-struck Sven Goran Eriksson would have taken his captain to Korea and Japan even if he was on crutches.

The Swede was briefly vindicated when Beckham scored the winning penalty against Argentina, but his other performances were average at best, and he was at fault for Brazil’s equaliser in England’s quarter-final defeat.

Four years later Wayne Rooney, having replaced Beckham as England’s golden boy, suffered an identical injury against Chelsea and barely recovered in time for the start of the World Cup in Germany. Clearly not fully fit, Rooney, along with the rest of a supposed golden generation, performed dismally and, in the quarter-final defeat to Portugal, he was sent off for a stamp on Ricardo Carvalho.

Managers kid themselves that star players are worth gambling on. History has shown the folly of that, even when injuries occurred during the tournament.

Ferenc Puskas was in no shape to play for Hungary against West Germany in the 1954 World Cup final, having suffered a hairline fracture of the ankle in the 8-3 group stage win against the same opposition earlier in the tournament. His inclusion almost paid off. He scored the final’s opening goal and had a late “equaliser” disallowed, but West Germany beat the brilliant Hungarians 3-2 to win the cup.

In 1994, Robert Baggio single-handedly led Italy to the World Cup final against Brazil. However, a hamstring injury suffered in the semi-final left his right thigh heavily strapped and, in the Pasadena heat, he had his poorest match of the competition. There was also the small matter of the most infamous penalty miss of all time.

The most shocking case of a team, unforgivably, taking a chance on an unfit player took place four years later in France.

It remains shrouded in mystery, but the story goes that Brazil’s Ronaldo had suffered a seizure while sleeping before the final against the host nation.

He was dropped and then, incredibly and at huge risk to the player’s health, restored to the team half an hour before kickoff. Brazil, with Ronaldo a mere ghost, were humiliated 3-0.

Football managers are nothing if not blind optimists.

The final 23-man squads for Brazil 2014, named yesterday, were peppered with injury-doubts that managers are hoping will suddenly discover match fitness to lead their teams to glory. Despite history’s protestation.

Not Italy manager Cesare Prandelli, though. On Sunday night, the Italian manager dropped a major surprise by omitting one of his best strikers, Fiorentina’s recently-injured Giuseppe Rossi, from the final squad, deeming him not match-fit enough for the challenges ahead.

It was a rare case of pragmatism trumping romance. In a similar situation, you could not imagine an England manager dropping Rooney.

Also read: World Cup Cult Heroes series

akhaled@thenational.ae

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