England Manager Fabio Capello’s recent announcement declaring that wives and girlfriends of the team’s players will be allowed time with their mates only after the days of games at the 2010 World Cup may at first review seemed a bit out of the ordinary.
But sequestering male athletes from personal comforts and temptations at a FIFA World Cup is not unprecedented.
At the 1990 World Cup in Italy, the host team’s manager Azeglio Vicini asked his players to refrain from sex. The players, however, were permitted to watch videos as one source of entertainment. It was unclear if Vicini restricted the video genre as well.
Brazilian players at the tournament reacted with surprise to Italy’s sex ban. Renato, a reserve striker, said that the ban would result in tension and possible fights during training. Midfielder Mauro Galvao said it’s worse if players would “go out and get drunk.”
At the 1994 World Cup in the United States, Swiss coach Roy Hodgson denied a media report that he had banned sex by his players at the tournament. He clarified that his intent was for wives and girlfriends to stay in separate hotels from the players.
The legendary Pele offered his worldly perspective on the matter. “Sex is not the problem, it’s the warm up that is,” he said, referring to the partying that often precludes sex.
Costa Rica imposed a sex ban on its players during qualifying games for the 1998 World Cup against the United States and Mexico in March 1997. Costa Rica tied Mexico and beat the United States but Costa Rica failed to qualify for the finals in France while Mexico and the U.S. advanced. Perhaps Costa Rica should have extended the ban through all of qualifying.
Two of the top teams in the world made headlines at the 2002 World Cup for their off field restrictions. Brazil manager Luis Scolari’s ban on sex during the tournament did not prevent his team from winning the championship. Italy, however, lost in the round of 16. Perhaps the fact the players’ wives and girlfriends were banned from the players’ hotel proved too traumatic.
A BBC report claimed one wife of an Italian player snuck into the hotel while posing as a television journalist. The report claimed coach Giovanni Trapattoni responded to the clandestine attempt with humor. “If you’re here as a reporter, get out now. If you’re here as his wife, here’s his room number.”
American players have endured isolation, but not—as we could tell—with intended restrictions on intimacy with their loved ones.
At the 1998 World Cup in France, U.S. head coach Steve Sampson placed the team in a 12th-century chateau in Beaujolais wine country a good distance away from social and game activity.
Former MLS executive and player Alexi Lalas was a member of that team and remembers being able to meet with family and friends at dinners or on off days. “When it came to the World Cup playing was all I wanted to think about,” Lalas, an ESPN soccer commentator, said by phone. “There was time for celebration and time for being with family and friends. And I didn’t want anything to get in the way of that. I recognize and respect being at a World Cup and what success could mean."
John Harkes, a former U.S. team captain and a member of World Cup teams in 1990 and 1994, understood the isolated atmosphere head coach Bob Gansler set up for the team at a camp in Italy in 1990.
“We were a young group, our average age was about 24,” said Harkes. “Gansler felt we didn’t need any distractions. It was our first World Cup in 40 years.”
Harkes recalls security officers carrying guns escorted him to meet his then girlfriend and now wife CindI for a 15-minute visit on the edge of the camp’s grounds. “From Bob’s perspective, it was maybe a smart thing to do, but at the same time exposing us to a World Cup, the life and flavor of it, could have helped. We felt kind of out of it like we weren’t performing in a World Cup.”
Both Lalas and Harkes feel Capello’s rule should help England at the 2010 World Cup. “Capello recognizes he has something special on his hands,” said Lalas. “He wants to make sure he molds it as well as he can.”
“There’s a certain balance to everything,” said Harkes. “There’s a disadvantage if you’re completely separated from your family. You’re a grown man. If there’s a balance so you can share some of the experience with them, that’s okay.”
With the move, Capello hopes to maintain England’s mojo after they cruised through World Cup qualifying and earlier this month secured a spot in the finals.
“I don’t think what Capello is doing is a big deal,” said Harkes.
World Cup, Jr. - The U-20 World Cup, considered the debutante ball for youth players around the world looking to showcase their assets to the top clubs in the world, begins play Thursday in Egypt.
Some players who propped themselves up well in past tournaments on the way to becoming global impact players include Barcelona forward Lionel Messi, the 2005 top player and top scorer who helped Argentina win the title; American forward Eddie Johnson of Fulham, who won the top scorer award in 2003 as the U.S. advanced to a quarterfinal loss to Argentina; and current Argentina manager and 1986 World Cup champion Diego Maradona, who won the top player award as his country won the 1979 title.
Since the tournament began biennial play in 1977, South American teams have won 10 of the 16 gatherings, with Argentina claiming six and Brazil four. The Americans first qualified for the tournament in 1981 and fashioned its best finish with fourth place in 1989. The U.S. has won their group at the last three tournaments, but advanced no further than the quarterfinals.
The Americans open up against Germany on Sept. 26 and finish group play with games against Cameroon and South Korea. Players to watch for on the American team include midfielders Mikkel Diskerud and Bryan Arguez and goalkeeper Brian Park.
Diskerud, a dual citizen with Norway, has been a part of two U.S. training camps and brings international flair to the team. He made his Norwegian Premier League debut in 2008 with Stabaek and played in a Champions League qualifier with the club in July.
Arguez and Park are the only two members of the team who played in the 2007 U-20 World Cup for the U.S. Arguez plays for German club Hertha Berlin and replaced the injured Sam Garza on the roster on Sept. 9. Park suits up for UCLA.
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