Almost got hurt. For soccer players, the period before the World Cup is one in which they protect themselves with silk gloves. The fear of an injury that will cause, God forbid, an absence from the World Cup, causes many to “keep their feet”.
As you may recall, the most memorable case ever of an injury resulting in an absence from the World Cup was that of Santiago Canizares. A goalkeeper for Valencia and the Spanish national team dropped aftershave on his leg, which led to a serious injury that ended his World Cup dream.
Now it turns out that another player was very close to experiencing a similar trauma, this time from the England team. Calvin Phillips, Manchester City and Three Lions midfielder, had an accident in the gym when he dropped a 5kg weight on his leg.
The incident happened just before the end of the English league, and moments before he leaves for Qatar together with the national team. “Before the last game against Brentford, I went to the gym to work on my Achilles,” recalled Phillips. “I grabbed one of the dumbbells, and it turns out there was another one that was attached to it and it fell on my leg. If it wasn’t a 5 kg dumbbell, if it was heavier, my situation could have been much worse,” he added.
Phillips concluded: “At first it didn’t hurt that much, warts from training hurt more. But for a moment I thought – ‘Oh no, what’s going to happen?'”. Happily, the England midfielder is fit for the World Cup and is expected to help Gareth Southgate’s team in their quest for their first World Cup since 1966.