Has the 'useful life' of footballers been extended?: the witness case of Pellerano, champion at 41, and the dream of seeing Messi in another World Cup

In the early hours of Wednesday, March 1, the Argentine

, 41 years old, raised a cup at the legendary Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro.

His team,

had become champion of the

after beating Flamengo in the penalty shootout.

A few hours later, in the morning in Argentina, the afternoon in Brighton in England,

, world champion in Qatar, said of

:

. "

Although there are still footballers who before the age of 35 decide to

, there are also more who extend their professional activity to bordering on 40 and overcoming that barrier.

And, of course, the phenomenon is not only Argentine, but also worldwide.

It is worth reviewing who were the best players in the World Cup since FIFA began to award the prize, in Spain 82. That year it was won by the Italian Paolo Rossi, who was

.

The same age was

.

Later, Romario won it at the age of 28 in the United States 94 and Ronaldo, in France 98, became the youngest in history, at 22.

But in this century, since Korea/Japan 2002, the best were over 30, with the exception of Lionel Messi, who was 27 in Brazil 2014. The German Oliver Khan, in 2002, was 33;

the Uruguayan Diego Forlán, in South Africa 2010, 33;

the Croatian Luka Modric, in Russia 2018, 33.

In addition, he recently received FIFA's The Best award.

And Modric appeared in the ideal eleven, at 37 years old.

Lionel Messi, the best.

(AP Photo/Michel Euler)

In Argentine soccer, the statistics show the trend forcefully.

In the 1998 Apertura tournament, only 9.36% of the players were over 30 years of age (53 of 566 footballers), at the start of the 2008 Apertura the figure had increased to 13, 2% (82 of 617 players).

(179 of 715).

Five years later, and before the retirement at the end of 2021 of almost 30 "veterans", in the current 2023 Professional League Tournament, 20% of the players are over 30 years old (190 of 916).

Of those who are over 40, two are goalkeepers, one is a defender and the other a forward.

Of the 4, only one played the five matches of the tournament:

.

Luis Garnier (40), from Sarmiento, always went to the bench and Enrique Bologna (41), from Banfield, only twice occupied a place among the substitutes.

, who is also the top scorer in activity and signed a contract until the end of the year with Lanús, has not even gone to the bank yet but is already physically recovered and it is likely that he will return against River on the sixth date.

Pepe Sand continues to shout goals.

(AFP)

It is true that most arrive with some

and they are no longer what they were.

.

Carranza was a figure in the last game against Instituto, Pepe Sand scored a goal in the last game of 2022 and was the tournament's top scorer in 2016 at the age of 35, later surpassed by Lisandro López, who was 36 in 2018. Licha,

.

Argentine soccer also has veteran foreigners.

Racing was reinforced with the Peruvian

, who turned 39 on the first day of this year. While in Vélez, the Uruguayans are the “oldest”:

.

In world football, there are plenty of examples of veterans at a good level and in competitive leagues.

Of the goalkeepers, two are in the lead:

, although he is now in Serie B. And Jesús Corona, 42, in the Cruz Azul goal.

He is the captain of the team like Pellerano, and like Joaquín, the Betis striker who is 41.

Buffón, valid at 45 in Serie B in Italy.

REUTERS/Alberto Lingria

Without forgetting the Swede

, who underwent surgery last year on the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and has just returned to play in Serie A with Milan at the age of

.

Or the Portuguese

who, although he went to a minor league, continues to score goals, his specialty.

He is the only footballer in history who has surpassed the 800 goal barrier (he has 827).

Messi is two goals away from reaching 800.

There are no mysteries.

, beyond the many or few injuries, and remain stainless.

An important aspect is

.

Jonny Northeast, director of the Sports Science department at Swansea, an English Premier League club, explained to the BBC that "Nutritional balance is important for a footballer to be lean and athletic, capable of withstanding the power and dynamism of a game".

In addition, the physical preparation is far superior to other times and the valences-speed, reaction, strength, power-each year are higher.

, PhD in Physical Culture in Cuba and former physical trainer for Boca, the Mexican Under 20 National Team and Atlético de Rafaela, among others, and who until February of this year was directing a sports project in El Salvador, explains from science.

“There are two ages, the biological and the chronological.

.

This means that a child may mature earlier, and in turn, an adult may decline in functional capacity very slowly.

That it can be sustained in high performance for much longer, coincides with a very good formative work”.

Lionel Messi will continue to play in the National Team.

He will meet again, now as world champion, with the people on March 23 in River and on March 28 in Santiago del Estero.

He said that this was his last World Cup.

But who knows?

.

One less than the prediction of Mac Allister, who has no doubt that he will continue to be the best.

Nobody has them anymore.

look also

Celia, Messi's mother, spoke of the drug threat against Leo: "It surprises us, they never bothered us and we always go around the city without custody"

George Russell and his premonition about Hamilton before the start of Formula 1: "I think he will fight again"