How to manage the return from the World Cup

For many players, the World Cup in Qatar is over while others entered the final two decisive matches for the final victory or otherwise to confirm a prestigious result. All are returning or will return to play in their clubs. Many will be dissatisfied, while others will have achieved their dream. Everyone will have to catch up and get back into championship mood.

This period should be divided into a few phases.

The first one corresponds to a phase of physical and mental recovery from their experiences during the World Cup in Qatar. After almost a month lived just to be ready to play the matches now it is a matter of re-amplifying one’s focus on the outside world from the wider world outside the sport to the more personal world relative to one’s family and friend circle. Aware that one has had an exceptional experience now one must come out of the isolation achieved with one’s national team. These are days when one should relax and do activities for the sheer pleasure of doing them, outside the rigid schedules and rules of the footballer’s usual life. It is a necessary time to cool down and make sense of the emotions experienced during those days, highlighting what one has learned for the near future and reducing the burden of what one feels went wrong or below one’s expectations.

The next phase is that of rejoining the team and resuming one’s daily routine in preparation for the championship. If the previous phase of decompression has been carried out optimally, it will be easier to find oneself with the motivation required to maintain an effective game rhythm. The role of the coach will be indispensable in guiding his group of athletes to begin again with the enthusiasm and intensity needed to play at their best. The team atmosphere will be decisive in the first few games, and substitutions during the match will, in my opinion, be a useful yardstick for understanding how committed everyone is to the common goal.

Those who get out must understand and accept the reasons while those who come in must feel at that moment they are essential to the team and play.