Hope in the face of the curse of wounds

Two months after the start of the season, Espérance de Tunis is experiencing a sensitive period on a physical level. As injuries keep coming and affecting players in need, the hospital is never empty.

Yann Sasse now joins the injured list, after Youssef Belaili, Mohamed-Amin Tougai, Mohamed Ben Ali and Mohamed-Amin Ben Hamida. What do all these players have in common? They are controversial holders, often international, who have been playing matches without real rest for over a year.

Between Ligue 1, Champions League, Tunisia Cup, Super Cups, Club World Cup, but also CAN and World Cup qualifiers, not forgetting international training courses and friendlies, these players are in a non-stop marathon. The body inevitably ends up stopping.

Because, as competent and diligent as the technical and medical staff are, insufficient rest and recovery make muscle injuries inevitable. This is the reality of modern football: schedules are getting denser, travel is piling up and the physical burden is becoming unbearable for over-stressed bodies.

The massacre certainly comes at an awkward time, but it would have been even more damaging if it had happened at the end of the season, at a decisive deadline. The club hopes to gradually rehabilitate its injured elements in the coming days and weeks, but the warning signal is clear.

It is time for Esperance to learn from this situation by adopting physical preparation and squad rotation to better protect its executives, while strengthening coordination between club and national teams to avoid overloads. The management must ensure that they protect the interests of the club in a hellish schedule, especially by requesting adjustments and seeking to preserve certain players from optional international competitions such as the Arab Cup, when this is necessary for their health and team performance.

This season in particular promises to be particularly trying with the CAN, Arab Cup, World Cup and regular Esperance competitions, an almost permanent intensity for the blood and gold internationals.

In the meantime, we wish all the injured a speedy recovery. Everyone should quickly regain full fitness and return to defending the colors of blood and gold with the same passion.