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Five infected national team players: time for humility
A total of four players from the national team are now affected by the crown. Photo: Stian Lysberg Solum
Lise Klaveness cultivates it to recognize that there shouldn’t have been such great pressure on the national team with so much infection in Europe. Now the Norwegian Football Association should apologize to the Norwegian health authorities.
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After it became known that four (now there are five, editor’s note) players on the Norwegian national team are affected by the corona virus, we now see thankfully a different and more humble tone from the Norwegian Football Association. While elite director Lise Klaveness should go further and regret that the association has been on a wild goose chase in a heated debate, Klaveness should be commended for the fact that in a demanding situation she now draws the general boundaries.
A major problem this fall is the “wanting much more” attitude in international football. If an elastic band is stretched too far, it will break at some point.
Club football has largely been carried out safely, but it is another matter to travel as much in Europe as the national team program implies. This question came to light even before the meeting. When the association goes to assess the crisis they have been in, there should be a few rounds on why it took so long to see the big picture. While what Klaveness reports this Friday makes perfect sense, the NFF would have turned out much better if they had looked up much earlier.
Now the situation could have gotten a lot worse, but fortunately we have leaders in the country who are capable of thinking in principle and who put health before the fact that football must be played no matter what. A logical next step for NFF now would have been to send a thank you and an apology to health authorities, and learn from the fact that there is a reason why infection control experts work with just that.
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There are also plenty of soccer personalities outside of the national team who could probably benefit from giving some thought to the proportions that have disappeared in an unnecessarily inflamed exchange of words over the past week.
If there is one thing that has now been proven, it is that the quarantine rules are not something that the authorities have invented to be disgusting. No part of this discussion is about someone who hates football, it is about prioritizing what is most important in an extraordinary moment. It is also clear that UEFA protocol does not provide the security that it has tried to show.
The Football Association used last Friday as an argument to travel to Romania that everyone else, except Omar Elabdellaoui, had tested negative. But the health authorities were exemplary in that it was not very relevant, since it may take several days before the covid infection takes effect. We now know that both Markus Henriksen, Patrick Berg and Marius Lode are infected with the coronavirus, and on Friday afternoon it became known that the same applies to Joshua King.
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The development also makes it clear that he would have been undermining the intent with a set of rules that we all have to abide by if the national team had traveled. Here, there is perhaps the biggest reason for self-examination in hindsight.
But sadly, the current corona issues with the national team don’t stop. The most resourceful club in the country is also in trouble, and one of those that can have some pretty uncomfortable consequences.
Rosenborg has used non-team players in training matches against teams outside of the cohort, where a player in Nardo has even been shown to have tested positive for crown. The infection did not originate in football and occurred later, but admits a fragility.
In any event, the case appears to be a clear violation of fair play. Now we will never know for sure if this was a deliberate circumvention of crown principles or if it was due to ignorance and incompetence.
But in any case, it can have direct sporting and therefore economic consequences. When Rosenborg meets Brann in the next round, the difference is how the teams have been able to prepare differently than they should have been. While the people of Trøndelag fight for the medals, the people of Bergen are exposed to the table. So a change in the balance of power is no small thing, nor for other teams this can result.
At the opposite extreme, Rosenborg will be affected by the fact that Markus Henriksen is out, and in the north, to put it mildly, it must be bitter that key players can be fooled the moment league gold is secured.
The anger against the health authorities has been great in many hearts of football in recent days. Now is the time to realize that it was wise that the plane never took off from Gardermoen.
