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Relentless club football affecting players - UEFA
Europe's top players are failing to reproduce club form in international tournaments because of burn-out, European soccer's ruling body UEFA said in its post mortem of the 2004 European Championship in Portugal. UEFA said it believed too little time to recover from club commitments could explain why some of the biggest names in European football failed to shine during Euro 2004. "The clear message is that the people... who are overused in terms of playing during the season are the stars and they are the one that suffer during the championships," Andy Roxburgh, UEFA's technical director told a media briefing in Stockholm after a meeting of Europe's national team coaches. "It is just too many matches at too high a tempo." Europe's traditional powerhouses such as France, Italy and Spain were all knocked out before the closing stages of the tournament -- surprisingly won by rank outsiders Greece. But although some of the established names did not hit top form, Roxburgh said the overall quality of football at Euro 2004 had been high with emerging talent such as England's Wayne Rooney and Arjen Robben of the Netherlands, picking up the baton. "Euro (2004) gave international football an enormous boost," he said. "A lot of people have been saying it has been dying in comparison with the clubs." Pressure on international managers, however, continues to be a problem due to intense press scrutiny, growing public expectations and increasing player power. "It has become such a high intensity, pressurised job, for many it is a four-year cycle," said Roxburgh. |
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