So I got a lot of flack a couple international breaks ago (maybe conti cup final time?) when Foord picked up an injury and Gustavsson blamed Arsenal/Jonas for overloading her. I said he was as much to blame for playing her in games they didn’t need her, games they didn’t even need to call her up and make her travel ridiculous distances for. People hated it, because one man who’s garnered a good reputation was saying all the right things and seemed caring while another guy was tanking his own relationship with fans despite the fact both managers were needlessly overusing Foord. Jonas was the devil and Tony was an unfortunate casualty in Foord’s club level overuse.
And so it’s happened again. He played her in a friendly, one she hadn’t even trained for. I’m no expert but playing a player in a meaningless game when they hadn’t been fit enough to train even the day prior seems very stupid. She didn’t need to do 80 mins in the all star friendly (I assume the Aussies contractually needed to appear) but she didn’t need to do any minutes in this. I think some managers (Jonker is a great example) take care of the NT team players as if they are club players but some know they have them short term and will just juice them for all they have.
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I honestly have hated this whole international break. I understand that Aussie fans want to see them play but it was pointless for our team to go all the way there to play, pointless to play Caitlin 80 minutes in that game, pointless to play her in a meaningless friendly. Then you’ve got the Europeans playing important qualifiers, and the Spanish league still has yet to finish. And then you’ve got the Olympics next month. It’s just too much. Oh, yeah, and on top of that, they seem to think it’s an excellent idea to do a Club World Cup as well, and you still have some folks who want bi-annual World Cups.
I feel like every time I argue this people immediately come for me with “it’s an important part of the women’s game and needs to stay that way,” but I am firmly of the belief that it’s time for the Olympics to be a U-23 tournament like it is for the men, with the option to bring a small number of over-23 players. Yes, I’m sure some players would certainly be selected (like you know Leah Williamson would be going for a GB selection), but I think they just really, really need a break.
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So I got a lot of flack a couple international breaks ago (maybe conti cup final time?) when Foord picked up an injury and Gustavsson blamed Arsenal/Jonas for overloading her. I said he was as much to blame for playing her in games they didn’t need her, games they didn’t even need to call her up and make her travel ridiculous distances for. People hated it, because one man who’s garnered a good reputation was saying all the right things and seemed caring while another guy was tanking his own relationship with fans despite the fact both managers were needlessly overusing Foord. Jonas was the devil and Tony was an unfortunate casualty in Foord’s club level overuse.
And so it’s happened again. He played her in a friendly, one she hadn’t even trained for. I’m no expert but playing a player in a meaningless game when they hadn’t been fit enough to train even the day prior seems very stupid. She didn’t need to do 80 mins in the all star friendly (I assume the Aussies contractually needed to appear) but she didn’t need to do any minutes in this. I think some managers (Jonker is a great example) take care of the NT team players as if they are club players but some know they have them short term and will just juice them for all they have.
I honestly have hated this whole international break. I understand that Aussie fans want to see them play but it was pointless for our team to go all the way there to play, pointless to play Caitlin 80 minutes in that game, pointless to play her in a meaningless friendly. Then you’ve got the Europeans playing important qualifiers, and the Spanish league still has yet to finish. And then you’ve got the Olympics next month. It’s just too much. Oh, yeah, and on top of that, they seem to think it’s an excellent idea to do a Club World Cup as well, and you still have some folks who want bi-annual World Cups.
I feel like every time I argue this people immediately come for me with “it’s an important part of the women’s game and needs to stay that way,” but I am firmly of the belief that it’s time for the Olympics to be a U-23 tournament like it is for the men, with the option to bring a small number of over-23 players. Yes, I’m sure some players would certainly be selected (like you know Leah Williamson would be going for a GB selection), but I think they just really, really need a break.