I've never bought into the notion that in your first games back from injury you struggle. For me, the reverse was true: adrenalin, the excitement at playing once more and desire to impress after being missing for a while meant that I played well. It was a few games after, when the buzz had faded, that a lack of recent games told and I found it hard going.
FOOT NOTE
DAYS SINCE INJURY 28
If you want to see Rooney looking fit and healthy and ready to take on the world, go to Madame Tussaud’s in London, where his waxwork double forms part of a new football exhibit.
DAYS TO ENGLAND’S FIRST MATCH 14
FOOT NOTE
DAYS SINCE INJURY 28
If you want to see Rooney looking fit and healthy and ready to take on the world, go to Madame Tussaud’s in London, where his waxwork double forms part of a new football exhibit.
DAYS TO ENGLAND’S FIRST MATCH 14
speedy recovery makes a break with the past
Published by Ceser.
ENGLAND should feel grateful that Wayne Rooney’s only 20 and that he’s playing now, not 20 years ago. He may perform beyond his tender age but if he’d been older, his amazing recovery would have been an impossible dream. If you had asked me two decades ago whether a player with that injury would have had any chance of regaining fitness within the timeframe that Rooney has to meet, I’d have said there was no chance. If you’d asked me ten years ago, I’d have been doubtful.
Now, I think there’s every reason to believe that Rooney will be match-ready less than a week after his second scan on June 14, provided that it’s clear. That means he’ll potentially be available for England’s last group game against Sweden, and for the knock-out stages.
It’s all about the powers of recovery that a young body possesses and the advances in modern medicine that have transformed the way football injuries are treated. In the past, if you were injured you did nothing except sit around and wait to heal. Meanwhile, unaffected parts of your body declined from peak condition and so it took a while before you were back to 100 per cent.
Now, hurt players are anything but layabouts. You work. High-tech machinery, bikes, swimming, whatever — you can exercise without worsening your injury. You can even run without putting pressure on your foot. How quickly you recover is no longer about a wait-and-see approach, it can be heavily influenced by how advanced your treatment is and how hard you are prepared to graft. And we hope Rooney has done everything in his power to speed his progress.
While, on the face of it, Rooney will only have a week of training before he could pull on an England shirt, the reality is, he’s been training almost since his metatarsal snapped. Some players will tell you that you can’t get match-fit after only a week of full-on training. Maybe not, but Rooney will be close.
From the day he is given the all-clear, he must go full-pelt: in a World Cup where time is so precious England can’t afford for him to have an easing-in period. He’ll naturally have a few doubts when he first laces up his boots, and probably some aches and pains afterwards, as Michael Owen did, but Rooney can’t jog around on tiptoes.
I had a hamstring problem when I was on duty with Ireland and Jack Charlton, then manager, told me: “Go full out. If you break down at least you’ll know where you stand and we can treat it from the start again. Don’t struggle on with a niggle when you don’t know if it’ll get worse or better.” It was sound advice.
In any case, what is “match fitness”? All matches are not the same. It is likely that Rooney will be forced to work harder in a real game than in training, but whether he is “match-fit” or not will depend on the opposition as much as anything. Playing Trinidad and Tobago, for example, is sure to be less strenuous than facing Germany.
Now, I think there’s every reason to believe that Rooney will be match-ready less than a week after his second scan on June 14, provided that it’s clear. That means he’ll potentially be available for England’s last group game against Sweden, and for the knock-out stages.
It’s all about the powers of recovery that a young body possesses and the advances in modern medicine that have transformed the way football injuries are treated. In the past, if you were injured you did nothing except sit around and wait to heal. Meanwhile, unaffected parts of your body declined from peak condition and so it took a while before you were back to 100 per cent.
Now, hurt players are anything but layabouts. You work. High-tech machinery, bikes, swimming, whatever — you can exercise without worsening your injury. You can even run without putting pressure on your foot. How quickly you recover is no longer about a wait-and-see approach, it can be heavily influenced by how advanced your treatment is and how hard you are prepared to graft. And we hope Rooney has done everything in his power to speed his progress.
While, on the face of it, Rooney will only have a week of training before he could pull on an England shirt, the reality is, he’s been training almost since his metatarsal snapped. Some players will tell you that you can’t get match-fit after only a week of full-on training. Maybe not, but Rooney will be close.
From the day he is given the all-clear, he must go full-pelt: in a World Cup where time is so precious England can’t afford for him to have an easing-in period. He’ll naturally have a few doubts when he first laces up his boots, and probably some aches and pains afterwards, as Michael Owen did, but Rooney can’t jog around on tiptoes.
I had a hamstring problem when I was on duty with Ireland and Jack Charlton, then manager, told me: “Go full out. If you break down at least you’ll know where you stand and we can treat it from the start again. Don’t struggle on with a niggle when you don’t know if it’ll get worse or better.” It was sound advice.
In any case, what is “match fitness”? All matches are not the same. It is likely that Rooney will be forced to work harder in a real game than in training, but whether he is “match-fit” or not will depend on the opposition as much as anything. Playing Trinidad and Tobago, for example, is sure to be less strenuous than facing Germany.