Big-name absences remind Dixon of ‘98 experience
Published:Sunday | November 20, 2022 | 12:08 AMDaniel Wheeler - Staff Reporter
INJURIES IN football are not ideal in the best of circumstances. When it prevents you from playing on the sport’s biggest stage, the World Cup, it is a blow like no other, one that former national player Linval Dixon knows all too well.
The 2022 edition of the World Cup, which begins today in Qatar, will see a number of the world’s best players unable to take part because of injuries suffered in the lead-up to the tournament, the first one that will be played in the winter months.
Among the players missing out on the tournament include France’s Paul Pogba and N’golo Kante, key pieces from their winning team in 2018, Argentina’s Giovani Lo Celso and Joaquin Correa, Germany’s Marco Reus and England’s Reece James and Ben Chilwell. Senegal’s Sadio Mane is the latest player to be ruled out of the tournament with injury.
The number of injuries to big-name players in this tournament brought back painful memories for Dixon.
Having helped Jamaica to qualify for their first and, to date, only World Cup in 1998, Dixon was unable to take the field in France because of an injury suffered a month before their first game against Croatia. Despite many efforts to get him ready, Dixon said he was never able to be the critical player he was during the qualification campaign.
“I remember when we were going to World Cup and the World Cup was in June and in May I got a serious knee injury and my World Cup was over at that time,” Dixon told The Sunday Gleaner.
“Of course, we tried to see how best we could have gotten me patched up to take part. But after so much work I never felt myself. I never felt the Linval Dixon that was the no-nonsense, hard-working player for the team,” said Dixon.
“To see it happen from other countries, I really feel sad for them, not getting to take part in the best football competition on earth. Because there is nothing higher than playing on the world stage.”
The searing heat of Qatar in the summer forced the tournament to be moved to the winter months with domestic leagues going on break to accommodate the change.
LITTLE RECOVERY TIME
Normally, players come to the World Cup having had a break from the rigours of week in, week out club football, but now have to deal with playing on the back of those rigours with very little time to recuperate.
Still, Dixon says that he does not feel that it is fair to attribute blame to the change in schedule to the number of injuries.
“It is unfortunate to see a lot of players going down now. I don’t want to say that it is because of this and it is because of that or because of when the World Cup is starting, because nobody forces injury on themselves and injuries are a part of the sport,” Dixon said.
“And it happens to the best of us and it is certainly not going to change.”
Despite the absences, Dixon is still hoping for a high-quality World Cup where, in the absence of the Reggae Boyz, he is betting on Neymar and Brazil.