The International Momentum Break, And Why I Hate This Interruption

  Once again, and for the fifth time this season, their will be no Premier League football played this weekend, international friendlies taking precedence. They call it an international ”break”, but for me, this is a misnomer. The word ”break” has connotations of a calming rest that should in no way be associated with this momentum-killing hindrance. Perhaps an international ”interruption”, a far more negative word, would be more appropriate, as that’s certainly how it feels to me.

  This ”break” could hardly have come at a worse time for Stoke City. Drawing towards the climax of a thrilling season at the bottom of the Premier League, and fresh from a hugely significant win over relegation rivals Middlesbrough on Saturday, all you want to do is play matches, to keep the momentum going. Instead, it’ll be a full three weeks before we play again, the next game being a trip to rock-bottom West Brom, and three before we play at home, which are the matches that the players and fans look forward to most, as it’s at the Britannia Stadium that all our most important results come. This gap destroys that momentum, and makes it harder for the players to motivate themselves for the next game when it does come around.

The momentum gained from Saturday’s victory will be lost during the international break

  Worse still, international commitments mean a number of key members of the squad will be unable to train together for several days, making getting motivated and tactical preparation that bit harder. It is, of course, a psychological boost to see ourselves in a healthy league position, clear of the relegation zone for two weeks, but for a number of clubs this will be working the other way, unfairly, because of this gap in fixtures. Tony Pulis summed it up well in his post-match interview on Saturday when he said that in a situation like ours, you just want to keep playing.

  The potential for injuries sustained during international matches, with possible catastrophic consequences on a club’s season is also a concern. Just ask a Liverpool fan. How much healthier would their title aspirations now be looking if Fernando Torres had not missed three months of this season after picking up an injury while playing for Spain. The utter frivolousness of many of the international games played makes this harder to take. This week, Stoke’s best player, Abdoulaye Faye will travel to Oman and back, two seven hour flights, in order to represent his native Senegal in a meaningless friendly. This will doubtless leave him jaded, quite possibly harming his performance for Stoke in the next game, but what would happen if he suffered a serious injury in the game, breaks a leg or damages knee ligaments? Our chances of Premier League survival would be greatly decreased by losing our captain and most reliable player, all to play in a friendly against Oman. Would it be worth it? Categorically no.

Players like Faye risk injury to represent their countries

  In fact, in the last eighteen months, we have seen two Stoke players attacked by unhappy fans while on international duty, these being Mamady Sidibe and Salif Diao, playing for Mali and Faye’s Senegal respectively. Sidibe in particular was lucky to escape with his life after Togolese fans knocked him unconscious and forced him through a broken window, damaging arteries in his arm, after their nation had lost a game to Mali. Sidibe missed two months as a result of those injuries. Luckily for him, and for Stoke, it was not more.

  Despite all this, I am a big fan of international football, and I enjoy watching both my countries, England and Serbia play. I am not one to suggest that minor nations should be prohibited from attempting to qualify for major competitions in an attempt to reduce the number of international matches played. That would take a lot of the fun out of it. I do though, advocate some measures to condense qualifying campaigns. Every four years, CAF, Africa’s equivalent of UEFA, combines the qualifying campaigns for the World Cup and the African Cup of Nations into one. Perhaps we could do something similar with our European Championships.

  The incidents with Sidibe and Diao led to calls from fans to stop players, particularly Africans, travelling to their home countries to play international matches. I disagree with this. While I was disturbed by the attacks on our players, and I feel that ensuring the safety of players must be at the top of any Football Association’s agenda, it would be wrong to impede the best players from representing their countries. It is an honour for the players, as well as a great focus of national pride, particularly in disadvantaged countries, to have a successful football team. When Iraq won the Asian Championships in 2007, it provided a much needed morale boost for its citizens at the time.

  One thing that I am sure of is that meaningless friendlies should be stopped. Friendlies as preparation for important international matches, like the one to be played between England and Slovakia this Saturday, are a necessary evil, but Faye’s Senegal are out of the running to qualify for any major competition before 2012, so for him to be making a difficult journey and risking injury to face Oman in a friendly match at such a crucial time in our season seems to me to be ridiculous and frustrating in equal measures.

  This weekend, I may in fact enjoy living without the nerves I usually feel prior to a Stoke game, and life would certainly be easier without the emotional rollercoaster from the elated high I feel after a win to the churning disappointment following a loss. Still, whatever I’m doing come three o’ clock on Saturday, I know where I’d rather be, and it’s very galling that the international ”break” has prevented this at such a vital time in our season.