The Portuguese League is back after a break of about a month and a half because of the World Cup in Qatar. It is true that competition remained, with the group stage and quarter-finals of the League Cup being held, but what could be the physical consequences of such a long interregnum? Will leader Benfica, who was at cruising speed, 8 points ahead of FC Porto, 9 ahead of Sp. Braga and 12 more than Sporting, could it reveal difficulties to start again? And will dragons, arsenalists and lions take advantage of this to balance?
DN spoke to two specialists in the field: José Neto, sports training methodologist at Applied Psychology, and physical trainer Fidalgo Antunes, to help us find answers. “How will the teams emerge when the championship starts again? It is unknown, because each coach has his own methodology, and some teams had no official matches, forced to organize training matches, but we know that they are not the same as competition seriously. “The big problem is that the players can come back at the same pace as before the interruption. I think it will be difficult, except in the case of the teams that went to the stage and played games in the middle of the game. during the week and on weekends,” defends Fidalgo Antunes. However, he emphasizes that “pro clubs have well-equipped technical teams, which carry out the most appropriate work and are certainly attentive to these issues”.
The former Sporting physical trainer, national champion in 2001/2002, emphasizes that “often, throughout the season, there are matches in which everything is the other way around and there is a tendency to blame the physical side, which had nothing to do with do it with that, but with the psychological part or with the luck factor, which is also very important in a football match”.
Players from national teams
Speaking specifically of footballers returning from work in the national team, José Neto, who became European champion with FC Porto in 1987, says that “it seems peaceful that after several weeks of interruption of personal training routines at the home club, with a transition due to other profiles of technical and competitive demand, there may be some difficulty”.
However, he points out that “if the results in the selections were positive individually and, above all, collectively, it will be easier to re-adapt these athletes when they return to the clubs”. And he gives the example of the Argentines of Benfica, Otamendi and Enzo Fernández, who were crowned world champions for Argentina: “But if the results were not as expected, as with Portugal for example, it could lead to a critical condition of the athlete .” at the club of origin.”
José Neto recalls another additional problem, that of athletes returning with injuries from the national teams, as happened with Pepe, from FC Porto (Arouca will receive on Wednesday). “If at the club an injury already takes time to adjust, it will be more difficult to return to the club of origin after the athlete has experienced other training methods.” Concerning the different rhythms that can exist between those who come from the national teams and those who continue to work in the clubs, José Neto understands that “you have to find a function to personalize the task in terms of training, the players gradually in almost as if they were injured athletes, who are only integrated into some training moments”.
According to Fidalgo Antunes, “there are always problems with the reintegration of football players coming from national teams, because the training methods are different and everything depends on the time they were in action”. He explains that “Enzo Fernández and Otamendi, Benfica players who reached the final for Argentina, returned to their countries for the festivities and then had to rest, gradually integrated into the squad, because they need some rest after the marathon games in Qatar” .
As for the athletes whose selections were eliminated earlier, “they were integrated earlier and had more time to adapt to the rhythm, until the restart of the I Liga”.
Finally, he points out that “football players who have not played should have a job alongside their club colleagues, with more intensive training”. Still, he thinks that “it’s not a difficult job to reconcile all these issues, with the psychological part being sometimes more difficult to solve than the physical, as the athletes pick up pace, and after two or three games they’re already good “.
Benfica’s case
Specifically in the case of Benfica, Fidalgo Antunes points out that everything will depend on the first matches after the break. “With Moreirense things didn’t go well for Benfica, let’s see what will happen now with Sp. Braga [dia 30 de dezembro]. Players may start doubting how they are doing and things will turn evil, or on the contrary, the answer will be positive and from then on everything will unfold naturally.”
José Neto agrees that Benfica may face some difficulties at this stage. “Yes, it could happen because the team was in an extremely rich phase in terms of results and this big breakthrough interrupted the cognitive processes. It will very much depend on what the results of these first games are,” he says.
Sporting, Thursday’s game against Paços de Ferreira, have gained new momentum in recent weeks, with four wins in four games in the League Cup and an 18-0 goal difference. “The team went through a bad phase, but it had nothing to do with the physical part, and now it wins on five and on six. Ruben Amorim had more time to prepare the players, who kept competition, which is very important used to be.” says Fidalgo Antunes.
Source: DN
