by England defender #02 Kyle Walker and England striker #09 Harry Kane reacted at the end of the match. … [+]
Nearly 50 Premier League players were on the losing side in the World Cup quarterfinals, with Qatar returning home early from 2022.
Fans of club teams may be secretly rejoicing as these players are devastated by the abrupt end of their World Cup journey.
Portugal, Brazil, England and the Netherlands were on the wrong side in the World Cup quarterfinals, and all four teams are filled with Premier League stars. 48 Premier League players were eliminated in the quarterfinals. Only 14 Premier League players remain in the World Cup.
Manchester City has the most players in Qatar of any Premier League club, so it’s probably not surprising that they were the ones that benefited the most from their quarterfinal results.
Ten Manchester CIty players, including Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson and Dutch defender Nathan Ake, five from the England squad and three from Portugal were eliminated. This is bad news for Leeds United, Everton and Chelsea, which could face a strong Manchester City team after Christmas.
Manchester City’s Nathan Ake and Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk played for the Netherlands every minute. … [+]
Nine Manchester United players were on the losing side in the quarter-finals, along with five Liverpool players and four each from Chelsea, Arsenal and Newcastle United.
All returning players have more than two weeks between the quarterfinals and the first Premier League game.
This means head coaches can give them some time to recuperate, roughly eight to ten days, and then have them train again with their squad before those league games.
Players still in the tournament, such as Tottenham Hotspur’s French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, Argentinian defender Cristian Romero or Croatian winger Ivan Perisic, will have just one week to recover after the final or third place game. The Spurs are the only Premier League team to still have more than two players in the World Cup. Arsenal and Aston Villa also lack key players William Saliba and Emiliano Martinez, respectively.
But even with two weeks between the World Cup and the first Premier League game, returning quarterfinalists won’t necessarily be in the best shape.
Some players like Nathan Ake and Liverpool’s Virgil Van Djik played every minute of the World Cup, including extra time, while others like Leicester City’s James Maddison spent the entire tournament on the bench. Others have been hit or in some cases seriously injured, such as Arsenal’s Gabriel Jesus. World Cup fatigue can build up throughout the season as players won’t be able to take a proper winter break.
James Maddison was in the England squad but did not play in any of the matches at Qatar 2022 World. … [+]
The World Cup also has a psychological effect. The tournament is the pinnacle of players’ careers. Since everything depends on that event, players have to pick themselves up after being eliminated.
For those like England’s Harry Kane, who missed a penalty that would equalize the match against France, the World Cup could be even harder to beat.
Usually, players have a full summer break and pre-season days to get the World Cup out of their system. Sometimes that just isn’t long enough.
Former England women’s midfielder Karen Carney thinks it takes six months for players to mentally recover after a big tournament, while for more traumatic experiences like Harry Kane’s penalty miss, former England men’s striker Alan Shearer said he would haunt Kane for the rest of his life. says.
With players returning to Premier League action in two weeks, they may not have had time to handle the knockout shock that could have knock-on effects on their form in the second half of the season.
