Diego Forlan writes a weekly column for The National, appearing each Friday. The former Manchester United, Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid striker has been the top scorer in Europe twice and won the Golden Boot at the 2010 World Cup. Forlan’s column is written with the assistance of European football correspondent Andy Mitten.
Uruguay were the last team to arrive at the 2010 World Cup finals, just five days before they began. Our wisdom was questioned, especially as we were playing on the opening day, but it was the right decision for us to stay longer in Uruguay preparing.
There, we were allowed to sleep in our own homes rather than a training camp. We trained twice a day and had a nap in between. We were back home for 5pm, unless we had a friendly. After a long season of 50-60 games in Europe, most of us appreciated that. If we hadn’t done that then we wouldn’t have seen our families between one season and the next.
Being a small country where most of the players had a home in Montevideo helped, but it was a factor in our success in the tournament apart from the obvious of having good players, coaches, experience and the right team spirit.
By now, the remaining 16 teams in France will have been together for three weeks, if not more. They could remain together for another two weeks, potentially six weeks away from home. They will be happy if that means winning the competition, but I noticed that players like Cristiano Ronaldo were trusted to have a week’s holiday, during which they will have trained every day.
There is a rhythm when the tournament starts. You stay in your base hotel and then fly to your next game the day before. You then fly back to your base after the game. By the time the players have got changed, done any media or drug tests, that can be late. We could arrive back at 4am.
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You spend the day after the match resting, then you have a day of training before flying to the city of your next game. If the spirits are good and you are winning, everything is fine.
With that Uruguay team — and I can see similarities with Wales, Iceland and both Irish teams in France — it was superb. We knew we were from a tiny country compared with the others, but being small made us bigger.
Honestly, every single man there was so proud to be selected. There were no inter club rivalries because we were spread around the world. In England, I was told that the players were in cliques from Manchester United or Liverpool. That doesn’t help. Resentment can build among players not playing and when grudges start in the squad, you are finished. It kills the spirit. Look at France in South Africa, when they had arguments.
Even if our players weren’t playing, they still felt privileged to be part of the Uruguay team. You might think it’s easy for me to say that because I was starting, but it was true. The national team is a huge deal to Uruguayans, the winners of the first World Cup. When you pull on that shirt it’s not about money. Unlike club football, it’s shared among players by the minutes they play so no player earns more than another.
It’s about creating your legacy for how you will be remembered by your own people. I loved being in that 2010 team, but the dangers are that you are still away for a long time, with the same people, eating the same food and listening to the same jokes.
Technology has helped ease boredom. You can video call home easily. When I was in Japan in 2002 for the World Cup, we couldn’t do that. You can watch films of your choice and you do things together — table tennis, pool, cards or share a drink with a mate. I would read newspapers for what I hoped would be balanced reporting but I would not look on social media.
I read that one of the Irish players played chess, and that another Irish player used to call home and get his wife to put their dog on the phone, with which he would have a conversation.
The Uruguayan boys were all different, but we had no chess players or dog talkers. We also stayed for the whole World Cup. The spirit was excellent, we had gone further than any Uruguay team in modern times, further than any South American team in the tournament, but after the semi-final defeat to Holland, most were tired of being away and wanted to go home, but we had a third placed game to play against Germany, which we lost 3-2, just as we had lost 3-2 against Holland. By that latter stage we were in a 20 storey business hotel in Johannesburg, not as nice as our main base, a great, small, private hotel in Kimberley.
So I know what the players in France are going through, the range of emotions. The Republic of Ireland’s win over Italy was fantastic. They were going out of the competition to a top team, then Robbie Brady scored. He cried, the fans cried, the newspaper editors smiled because they had their picture. Everyone is talking about Ireland and their many fans.
Ireland, Iceland, Wales and Northern Ireland are in the knock out stages where, in a one on one game, anything can happen. That’s why football is wonderful, it can spring so many surprises.
The same with Iceland, and England should be very careful of them.
But I do believe that another small country, Croatia, has the quality to win it. They beat Spain; they were playing well against Czech Republic until idiots threw flares onto the pitch. Ivan Rakitic, Luka Modric and Ivan Perisic are high quality and playing well. Mario Mandzukic could boost them, and they defend well. They’ll have even more chance to win against Portugal, who have yet to win a game, though Ronaldo will be more relaxed after scoring.
There are some fantastic games coming up. Enjoy them.
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