Why injuries suffered now by Lampard, Gerrard and Rooney could help England win the World Cup next summer - Martin Lipton's Big Lunchtime Read
Frank Lampard's withdrawal from England's friendly against Brazil in Doha may have rendered Fabio Capello's plans for the World Cup warm-up even more redundant than the Italian had hoped.
But while the thigh problem that could keep Lampard out for up to two months was a bitter blow for Chelsea, it may prove a major plus for Capello and his dreams of glory next summer.
It was Michel Platini who came up with the most brutal assessment of English players, explaining the difference between the players who look like world-beaters in qualifying only to arrive at tournaments as pale imitations.
The UEFA President simply mused: "English players are lions in the autumn but lambs in the spring."
For Platini, the reasons were obvious - the sheer physical demands of the English game, which drain energies over nine unyielding months, leading to players turning up for tournaments shot in mind and body.
Over-playing, too, leads players more vulnerable to injuries towards the end of the season, costing England big players at nearly every tournament.
Even this decade, Sven Goran Eriksson was without Steven Gerrard, Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher in 2002, while David Beckham was not fit to play even though he led the side.
Fast forward four years, and Wayne Rooney's fractured metatarsal and the injuries Michael Owen carried into the tournament, plus the jadedness that affected both Gerrard and Lampard, played their part in another wasted opportunity.
And while Capello wanted to send out his first team against the world leaders in Doho tomorrow - and instead will play what is not even a half-strength side - the nature of the injuries some of his key men have sustained may actually work in England's long-term favour.
While Chelsea, United and Liverpool fans would be aghast at the prospect of extended, enforced breaks for Lampard, John Terry, Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Rooney and Gerrard, six-week lay-offs in the middle of the season would do the players themselves the world of good.
That English football should have a winter break, allowing the players to re-energise and reinvigorate themselves, is beyond doubt.
Look at Germany, who benefit hugely from a six-week hiatus.
Technically, the German teams are not always the best. But they have a brilliant tournament mentality and, perhaps more importantly, they tend to arrive fitter than most of the rivals. No wonder, then, that the Germans have reached the last four stages in three of the last four major tournaments, in 2002, 2004 and 2008.
As Capello pointed out before last month's game in Ukraine: "A winter break would be good for the players.
"I know that, when I was manager of Real Madrid, when you played after a month's holidays in the Champions League against the Germans, everyone was fresh."
Of courser, the fact that the World Cup will be a winter tournament, south of the equator, with kick-off temperatures for night matches in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Nelspruit and Rustenburg all nearing freezing point, will work in England's favour.
So often in the past, England teams have had to temper their natural high-tempo pressing game, the sort of match in which English players thrive, because they can't sustain the intensity for more than an hour in searing, sauna-like conditions.
Indeed, waking up in Shizuoka in 2002, when the torrential downpour of the previous day had given way to blazing 90 degree-plus heat, you knew there was never a chance in Hell of Eriksson's side beating Brazil.
Conditions in Doha tomorrow will be similar to those in Japan, even with an 8pm kick-off local time but South Africa will be vastly different.
Capello firmly believes that if he can arrive in Rustenburg with his first-choice side fit and fresh, he can take England all the way, that everything would be in their favour.
For that to be possible, then those same key players need some breathers between now and June.
Lampard, Gerrard and Rooney all have scores to settle with the World Cup. Time off before they land in South Africa and they have a better chance of doing the settling.
Not that fans of their clubs, understandably, would agree.
But Capello would be excused offering a private hope for a few niggling problems to develop in the next few weeks and months. Lampard's injury anguish now could presage genuine delight on July 11.
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