The 22nd edition of the FIFA World Cup 2022 is set to take place in Qatar from November 20 to December 18, 2022. The controversies around this tournament is endless right from the day when Qatar were awarded with the opportunity to host this quadrennial tournament.
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The tournament takes place mid season instead of the traditional June-July window after the conclusion of a season citing the intense summer heat at Qatar. This eventually meant that the tournament had to be fitted in a reduced time-frame of mid November-December which ultimately led to a congested football calendar.
Congested Football Calendar due to FIFA World Cup 2022
The club competitions in Europe were planned in a way that each club played 12-13 games in a timespan of 40 days. There has been a concern from the players previously about the number of matches being played, adding fixture congestion to that eventually means the workload on the players is immense and they become highly susceptible to injuries and fatigue.
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“What we see is a really packed schedule now with a lot of players playing a lot of minutes,” said Gareth Southgate, English national team manager. He added that “I think realistically we will lose more. It’s so intense, and the players are playing so much football.’
Injury risks and the World Cup dream getting Jeopardised
Manchester United’s central defender Raphael Varane limped off at the hour mark during their clash against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. The Frenchman left the field teary eyed with a fear that he may not be able to make it to the World Cup.
Another Frenchman who has been ruled out from the tournament is N’golo Kante, who had a relapse in his recovery from a hamstring injury. Paul Pogba is also missing out this edition due to recovery from the knee surgery. Other familiar names that are ruled out from being a part of this World Cup are Reece James from England with a knee injury, Diogo Jota of Portugal with a calf injury and Ronald Araujo of Uruguay who is recovering from thigh surgery.
Latest speculations are that Giovani Lo Celso is in danger of missing out the World Cup campaign with his injury expected to be more serious than what it looked to be at the beginning. Kyle Walker and Kalvin Philips are also racing against time to be available for the World Cup.
