Over the last 20 years the field of exercise physiology has made significant progress and has been able to generate significant research relevant to sports performance. In many instances some football coaches, when compared to their counterparts in other sports such as track and field, cycling and American football, have not been at the forefront in making use of the cutting edge research from exercise physiology to aide performance.
However, it would be difficult to find a team in the English Premiere League, the showcase of international football, that does not have an exercise physiologist on staff. In fact, one would be hard-pressed to find a top professional team in Europe without the services of a professional exercise physiologist in its nucleus.
Exercise physiologists have a vital role at the center of a football team in monitoring and increasing the physiological capacity or fitness levels of the players through various methods. Some of the functions of the exercise physiologist include the manipulation of dietary regimens, making use of ergogenic aides, monitoring the training workload and designing training protocols that stress the appropriate energy systems specific to the game.
One of the most important secrets and weapons at the disposal of the exercise physiologist is the knowledge to accelerate the recovery process of players in between matches. In a competition such as the World Cup or the recent Confederations Cup, matches are played back-to-back and the ability to recover from one match to the other becomes paramount for survival and success within the competition.
Over the last several months, I have been following the matches of the Egyptian National Football team both in the Confederations Cup and during their treacherous and arduous road in attempting to qualify for the World Cup in South Africa 2010. I have just returned from a trip to Egypt where I watched the last two qualifying matches Egypt played against Algeria. Having worked with the national team of Egypt seven years ago, I was surprised to find during this last trip that there are still no exercise physiologists within Egyptian football.
Ever since I worked in Egypt, I became aware that deficits in physiological capacity or fitness levels were a primordial problem at the heart of Egyptian football. Following a careful observation and analysis of the various assessment procedures through which the players were submitted, I noted a lack of overall body strength and power in the midsection as well as upper and lower extremities. The ability to produce and maintain sustainable, elevated energy levels throughout the 90 minutes of play that enables high quality levels of intermittent short bursts of power was missing.
With such a lack of emphasis given to the field of exercise physiology within Egyptian football, it is not surprising to see that the Egyptian national yeam today still has recovery related problems. This was especially evident in their third match against the Unite States in the Confederations Cup. After performing solidly against Brazil and Italy, the team literally collapsed in the second half of the third match against the Americans. The team suffered from high levels of fatigue during the second half. Over the course of the competition several players suffered from cramps including Ahmed Abdel-Ghani, Ahmad Fathi, Mohamad Shawki, Sayed Moawad and Mohamad Zidan.
The Confederations Cup match against the United States was a warning sign that something within the team’s methodologies to increase physical performance and expedite recovery was in need of reevaluation. Following the last World Cup qualifying match against Algeria, a few players in the team were not able to return to normal play in the Egyptian league because of non-contact injuries.
Teams such as the US, being somewhat limited in the availability of talent, have to rely on other important game related attributes such as fitness and tactical cohesion within match play in order to succeed. The American team, known for high fitness levels, gives great importance to the field of exercise physiology and relies heavily on the latest research coming out of this discipline to aide physical performance. In contrast, the Egyptian team, though with a greater availability of talent, has little tactical cohesion and significant deficits in fitness levels.
The crux of the problem in competitions such as the World Cup and the Confederations Cup is their back-to-back matches. Such extreme schedule presents a clear problem for teams that have an inability to recover within those quick turnarounds. Several techniques employed by the exercise physiologist to speed and shorten the recovery process of players become even more critical in such competitions. Any team not giving attention to these techniques is going into the field of battle with low caliber weaponry. A team playing only a single match, where recovery may not be an issue, might get away with not having some of these techniques in place if they possess overwhelming talent. However, this is not the case in a competition where several matches are played with little rest time between them.
It has been well established that the 50 minutes following exhaustive match play is crucial for the recovery process. A small window of opportunity exists where cells within the skeletal muscle are more susceptible and prone to receiving vital nutrients that replenish glycogen reserves, the fuel stored in muscles. This fuel is the equivalent of gasoline in the tank of a car and provides vital energy for muscle contraction. Glycogen levels can be further augmented and returned to normal pre-match levels within the 36 hours that follow exhaustive exercise if players follow a proper dietary regimen, take the proper supplements (ergogenic aides) and receive adequate rest.
A parallel can be drawn between the way glycogen levels function in human muscle cells and gasoline in the tank of a vehicle. Glycogen is the gasoline fueling the motor of an athlete; it aids in the recovery process and provides the energy for muscles to work. You can have a Ferrari in the garage of your house but it is useless as a source of transportation if it lacks the proper fuel. You can have 11 Abou-Trikas or Peles in the field but they will also be rendered useless if they have low glycogen reserves in there muscle cells.
The recovery process of the Egyptian National Team was clearly impaired as evidenced by the performance displayed in the second half of the match against the United States where some players could barely walk and displayed overwhelming levels of fatigue. This fitness issue, analogous to a silent, malignant tumor, is at the heart of Egyptian football. The time is long overdue to bring to the national team and to Egyptian football professionals that have an exercise physiology background. Only then will the national squad have the right weaponry to go head-to-head against the best on equal ground.
With the talent that Egypt possesses, they should be the key ambassadors of African Football in every World Cup. Winning the African Cup twice back-to-back is a major accomplishment but it is not enough for a country rife with talent. Egypt should not have to go down to the wire in such dramatic fashion, as they did with Algeria, in order to fight for qualification for the World Cup. Egyptian football does not need to bring in more foreign head coaches; they need foreign exercise physiologists with the right amount of radiation to send the cancer into remission.
Ricardo Guerrais a Physiologist and Strength and Conditioning Coach. He has a Masters of Science in Sports Physiology from the Liverpool John Moores University. He has worked with several clubs and teams in the Middle East and Europe, including the Egyptian and Qatari national teams.
