footyfan
Calma, calma
(1) unless his country doesn't qualify again during his career. - That's irrelevant. I was talking about how luck is involved in winning a World Cup. You have to first participate in one by being injury free for THAT World Cup. The fact that his team might qualify again 4 years from now has nothing to do with his ability to stay injury free for THIS world cup. Maybe you mistook me for saying that the player can never represent his nation - that's not what I meant.
(2) But the latter.i.e CL also affords greater recuperation time. The nature of the former - short-spaced, lesser margin for error, high-octane matches can be physically and mentally draining negating any advantage. - Each team plays every 4 days for the entire duration of the World Cup. That is equivalent to an average week of League/Champions League football. Add to this, that teams hardly travel any long distances in a World Cup campaign. Also, about matches being high-octane, I don't see a very huge difference in the pace of play physically. But fair enough, I agree with you on the mental aspect. I wouldn't go so far as to say that it negates any advantage though. Just as an example, Thomas Muller scored 5 times in 2010. He has never scored over 3 times in a Champions League season. It's simple really, one is played over a period of 10 months and the other is played in 1 month. Did you know that the Premier League has awards for Player of the Month etc. and the most random people win these awards. Probably because it's easier to play well for a period of 1 month as compared to 10.
(3) I'm not sure if all winning teams in history were well-balanced. However, thats not a handicap to shine on an individual level, or inspiring your team to do great things. - I'm sure they were. Basically you need a good defence, good midfield and good attack which I'm sure every winning team has. Football is a team game. Lionel Messi played amazing on an individual level for the entirety of World Cup 2010 and in my opinion was the best player of the tournament until his elimination. But his campaign is remembered as a flop because his team was terrible in defence. Not just that, his manager decided to put 1 midfielder and 5 wingers/forwards in the team and that ultimately cost them in the game vs Germany. Now tell me how this is his fault. There is maybe only one player who has overcome the odds (Maradona) but even he had a great defence behind him - or so I've heard - and players like Burruchaga and Valdano alongside him. Not to mention he had a very competent coach in Bilardo as well.
(4) Greatness is about adaptability, versatility and improvisation, just as much it is about perseverance. - Fair enough. But I would much rather value consistency, such as Messi/Di Stefano/Pele/Muller's performances over a number of years vs 2 months of good football from Zidane/Diego Forlan.
(5) one could say the same about the CL. - Are you kidding me? Champions League ties are resolved over 2 games leading to a much lower possibility of penalties. Just as a check, I went back and looked at the past 7 World Cups (because prior to that the format was different) vs past 7 Champions League. There have been 8 penalty shootouts in total for CL while there have been 21 penalty shootouts in the WC.
