The crowded fixture schedule and the perennial ‘club vs country’ debate goes on unabated, year after year. No sooner is pre-season training over and the Premier League back into its swing – and there’s a break. Several international players arrived back at their clubs weeks late after tournament football. Now some have eye-watering distances to cover in the coming two week period to represent their national sides.
Whilst the cosseted first class lifestyle of a professional athlete means these Hammers don’t get to travel squashed up in economy class, the cumulative effect of so many miles – and for some different time zones- on the body can’t be fully mitigated.
The short haul Hammers include Captain Jarrod Bowen, who has has been selected by England Caretaker manager Lee Carsley for the forthcoming UEFA Nations League Group B2 matches against the Republic of Ireland and Finland. Konstantinos Mavropanos will be playing for Greece, (the fourth team in England’s group), against the same two opponents. Northern Ireland play Luxembourg and Bulgaria – which means opportunities for Hammers’ Academy star Callum Marshall.
Alphonse Areola’s French side has tough matches against Italy and Belgium. (Not sure how Alphonse’s back problems will cope with time in the air); Germany meanwhile take on Hungary and Netherlands – in which Niclas Fullkrug will surely be be involved. Tomáš Souček and Vladimír Coufal will be in action in the same competition for the Czech republic, against Ukraine and Finland. Travelling within Europe, these players will have round trips of up to 3000 miles to deal with – not too much of a problem you’d hope.
The transatlantic Hammers include Lucas Paqueta’s Brazil, who will be taking part in World Cup 2026 Qualifiers against Ecuador and Paraguay, 11,000 miles in the air is more of a challenge to remain in peak fitness. Guido Rodríguez‘s Argentina side will be taking on Chile and Colombia, so his journey will be almost 14,000 miles just to join up with his Argentina team-mates.
As covered already on C and H, Edson Alvarez has decided against travelling following his Hamstring Injury so will not be representing Mexico this month.
It isn’t just the game time, this travelling through multiple time zones in under two weeks causes fatigue and for some it’s less than six weeks since they re-joined for pre-season. Keep everything crossed that our International players come back uninjured and ‘fresh’ for the resumption of the Premier League with West Ham United travelling just west along the Thames on 14th September for their away fixture at Fulham.
Just what footballers need another excuse as to why they don’t perform.