Time for a rant.

I know I have, several times, expressed my annoyance at how it, constantly, disrupts the season, but I accept it is a necessity.

As a kid, when live football coverage was not so prolific, I used to watch the Home International tournament that took place at the end of the season.

I pondered how proud those selected must have felt pulling on the shirt of their country and had the utmost respect for those that accumulated 100 caps, or more.

But slowly that magic, in the years that followed, eroded.

Slowly, but surely, international football changed, club football began to take a preference, with players withdrawing from internationals through injuries, quite probably at the request of their club manager.

Suddenly games did not carry the fervour they previously had with tournaments opening up to include more and more of the smaller nations that play football.

Gradually, winning 100 caps did not seem such an achievement with new benchmarks being set.

In a little over a week, the Hatters face a blank weekend, EFL fixtures have been postponed for those suffering from international call-ups of which Luton Town have several.

But has the increase in the number of international fixtures played started to see players re-assess their priorities.

Earlier this week, it was announced by – The Royal Gazette -that Nahki Wells had opted to withdraw from the Bermuda squad ahead of their games against St Lucia and Guadelupe, in the Concacaf Nations League.

Talking to the media, Nahki is quoted as remarking about the reasons why:

“I am not available for Nations League as I just want to prioritise time to recover and spend time with my family.”

“It’s been a tough turnaround with games back-to-back, so for the health of my body I am prioritising that.”

It’s hard to argue with Nahki’s reasoning, at 36-years-of-age, he is no spring chicken and has already picked up a couple of minor injuries this season, a season where he appears to have recovered his scoring touch.

Also throw into the equation the amount of travel involved, and you can see why Nahki is being cautious.

Naturally, the Bermuda head coach, John Barry Nusum, is disappointed he will be without the services of Nahki, but he is realistic in acknowledging why he has taken the decision he has, remarking to our aforementioned source:

“We had a chat and Nahki is in a professional space, which means that he has to make certain decisions.”

“Part of it is where he is with his club and the other part of it where we are with our development and getting younger guys in, so it’s a little bit of everything involved.”

“At the end of the conversation we thought it would be best for him to stay with the club and staying tuned in on that side of it, and for us we can get some younger guys in and see players that we haven’t seen before.”

“Do we want Nahki? Absolutely. But he won’t be involved and will get to be able to spend a little more time with his family. That’s one of things he hasn’t been able to do because he has to travel for playing. We had a conversation about it and he’s not going to join us for this window.”

It is great to see he’s taken the decision the right way, looking at both the negatives and the positives, but going forward something has to be done about the demands of international football during the season.

But, then again, how many times, when clubs have a blank weekend do we read about Premier League clubs flying to some far-flung corner of the globe to play a, financially lucrative, friendly fixture.

Despite my protestations, it is a problem I fear is going to get worse before it gets better and coaches, with players away on international duty, will be dreading that phone call relating to a star player picking up an injury.

But what are your views on the above subject matter?

Please feel free to have your say in the comment facility beneath this article.

COYH

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