Saliba playing the World Cup with a fractured back is madness

I remember seeing stories like this about other players and thinking surely the sport has learned by now but apparently not, because once a tournament gets big enough everyone forgets about the human being and only sees the shirt and the result and that is what makes it so grim to read about
 
People need to stop pretending this is just a brave player story and start asking why the same names keep getting thrown into these situations because if Saliba was already carrying this then whoever kept putting him out there was taking the piss, you do not need to be a doctor to know a fractured back and repeated football matches are a horrible mix, and if he ends up struggling later on then everyone involved will say they were just managing risk when really they were gambling with his career and hoping nobody noticed until after the tournament was over and that is what really boils my piss
 
The worrying part is less the headline and more the process behind it. If he was already injured before the tournament and still ended up playing repeatedly, then the decision-making around risk management deserves scrutiny, especially with France having other options at centre-back. That does not automatically mean the medical team got everything wrong, but it certainly does not look ideal from the outside.
 
The officials and medical people need to have a proper look at themselves because this sort of thing is exactly how football turns into a circus where nobody is accountable and the player is the only one who pays the price, if a back is fractured then why is he anywhere near repeated matches in the first place and how on earth are people acting like this is just part of the game, it is not part of the game it is negligence dressed up as ambition and every time one of these stories comes out there are excuses about pressure and tournaments and dream moments while the bloke who actually has to live with the injury is left dealing with the mess, absolute joke from everyone who signed it off and then stood there pretending it was fine
 
Back
Top