Eden Hazard started his first game back from injury against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, and will likely go deep into Chelsea’s battle with Manchester City on Saturday. He will then spend the international break with Belgium, who are the only European club to clinch first place in their World Cup qualifying group.
Roberto Martinez must feel like he is the luckiest guy in football. Eden Hazard injures himself walking off the training pitch for Belgium in June. Chelsea take care of all of Hazard’s rehabilitation, returning him to his best just in time for Belgium’s World Cup qualifying clash with Bosnia and Herzegovina. BiH are second in Group H behind Belgium, so Martinez is all about having his best XI available.
Except that Belgium has an eight point lead over Bosnia with two games remaining. Belgium have already secured the top spot in their group, the only European team to do so. Martinez does not need Hazard. While he would like Hazard in training and maybe give him some game time, that is a gratuitous risk.
National team coaches are in an unenviable position between club and country. They call up players who are already tapped out from the club schedule. Club coaches and fans fret over player safety and readiness. A player getting injured on international duty seems like, well, insult to injury. But the national team coaches still need to win.
Except Roberto Martinez does not in this case. Belgium have accomplished their first goal, and can shift their focus to the next stage. Training as a team is part of that, but so is ensuring fitness and preventing re-injury.
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N’Golo Kante played 180 minutes in the last international break. This came after going the full 90 minutes in Chelsea’s first three games and the Community Shield. That, in turn, came after a full summer of international duty and pre-season. Kante looked a step behind for Chelsea’s first few games in mid-September.
He seemed to only recover his freshness and sharpness against Stoke City and Atletico Madrid. If Kante shows the effects of accumulated fatigue, then other players must be feeling it even worse.
Kante will likely get no rest in the next two weeks, as France has only one point on second place Sweden. That at least justifies his call-up and inclusion in the squad. For Eden Hazard with Belgium, though, Martinez is gambling both with Hazard’s future and Belgium’s. What good does it do Belgium to train with Hazard in October at the risk of compromising him for the spring?
Chelsea go into the international break after seven games in 21 days. They will return to nearly the same tempo, with six games in 17 days to see out October. Chelsea ended the previous run with games against Atletico Madrid and Manchester City, and they will open the October span with Crystal Palace and AS Roma.
The club-country dilemma is nothing new and is not going away. The offseason-in-name-only contributes to the players’ overall fatigue and risk factors. In a World Cup year, the sports performance staffs at the top clubs are in damage control mode. Eventually, something needs to give and someone needs to step up and right the scheduling wrongs.
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Until then, though, clubs, players and fans will have to rely on national team coaches making the right long-term decisions. The interest of club and country do not conflict in a case like Eden Hazard’s. Hopefully for Hazard, Chelsea, and Belgium, Roberto Martinez will give Hazard as much of a break as possible so the No. 10 will be ready when all teams truly need him.