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With the World Cup complete, players must get back up for their clubs

Would you watch a European Super League if there was no promotion-relegation? (AAP Image/NEWZULU/MIQUEL LLOP)
Roar Guru
15th July, 2014
5

With the 2014 FIFA World Cup officially over, our footballing attention now turns to the various club competitions across the world.

From the English Premier League to La Liga, stars and villains of this World Cup will be forced to align themselves with various international opponents.

Meanwhile, we fans may well find ourselves cheering those we were just jeering. Such a transition poses the age-old footballing dilemma of what means more, playing for club or country?

After a dramatic and at times breath-taking World Cup that involved a humiliating exit for Brazil and a disheartening World Cup final loss for Argentina, footballing stars like Lionel Messi and Neymar are now left to pick up the pieces of their international disappointment. Recovery must be swift, with expectations to perform for club sides looking for glory on a slightly smaller scale.

Messi himself faces a tough time emotionally, having narrowly missed out on the one trophy that alludes him. He now faces four years of waiting during which he can at best repeat past successes, albeit enviable successes.

Messi’s countrymen Pablo Zabaleta and Martín Demichelis on the other hand are now able to combine their international misery positively for a Manchester City side coming off the back of EPL glory but keen to prove themselves on the European stage.

Arsenal, on the other hand, have three World Cup winners – Mesut Özil, Lukas Podolski and Per Mertesacker. Off the back of such a feat, players may carry momentum into their club football. If this is the case, Bayern Munich appear to be in a prime position to experience further club success, boasting a ridiculous seven 2014 World Cup winning players.

But the World Cup doesn’t just affect players involved in the final; anyone involved in the tournament now faces a potentially difficult time readjusting to club football.

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David Luiz, like most of the Brazilians, must put his team’s tragic World Cup end behind him and perform, particularly after a spate of recent criticisms resulting in the finger being pointed at him for Brazil’s defensive lapses.

Bought by Paris Saint-Germain just before the World Cup began for 50 million pounds, the most ever spent on a defender, Luiz has plenty to prove.

So too does Lius Suarez, but not necessarily in the same way. Again found guilty of biting in his team’s clash with Italy, Suarez was handed a four-month ban by FIFA and in turn sold by Liverpool to Barcelona for around 75 million pounds. When Suarez does eventually make his debut for Barca, the man not only needs to prove he was worth the hefty price tag, but also that he is capable of sane behaviour.

One more bite may cost him a lot more than just some sore teeth.

The limbo between football can be tough to handle, particularly after such a stellar World Cup. But for the players, it is a crucial time where they must distinguish between club and country – a distinction that may dictate the direction of club competitions around the world for seasons to come.

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