Can Navas break the psychological barrier?

With World Cup qualification coming to a close (only the playoffs remain) the teams that have qualified can now concentrate solely on South Africa next summer. After a gruelling campaign spanning over a year, players have come to fruition and consolidated their places in their respective national sides. Most countries could name their starting XI and possibly even a match day squad of eighteen. There are, however 23 spots to fill and players will be trying to impress in the upcoming months to stake a place in their national squads. 

Brazil, for example, will not ignore the former Ballon D’Or winner Ronaldinho until the last minute. Higuian’s recent surge for Argentina in the qualifiers has put him in the running for next summer and Joe Cole has recently come back from injury and is in contention, after 11 months, for the England national team. It’s all up in the air –even for Spain, the European Champions. 

A squad that allows Cesc Fabregas to sit on the bench is without a doubt a squad of luxury. The Spanish midfield is possibly the strongest we’ve seen at any level in a long time. Their ‘Plan A’ – their passing game – is formidable. 

There will be times, however, next summer where they will have to look to ‘Plan B’. David Silva is a great attacking threat down the left, and can also play off the striker, like he does for Valencia. Santi Cazorla is also available as is Juan Mata who may be useful as a direct approach to combat teams such as Brazil. 

Jesus Navas is another option for La Furia Roja. A quick, tricky and direct winger – there’s no doubt in his quality and had it not been for personal circumstance he’d surely have followed a career path similar to that of Daniel Alves – showing just a few weeks ago his quality when he helped Sevilla inflict Real Madrid’s first loss of the season. 

The personal circumstance in question here is that Navas suffers from chronic homesickness. Somewhat ironic for a gypsy, Navas cannot spend too much time away from the Andalusian region. This has caused him to miss out on Sevilla’s tour of the USA and he has had to return home early from Spanish national team camps.

At only 23 years old, it could simply be that Navas has jut not grown up yet; this begs a further question. Do footballers struggle to adapt to real life circumstances because they’re somewhat institutionalised into the game? Navas has been part of the Sevilla set up since the age of 16 and life outside the walls of the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán is may be considered alien to him. 

Recently, however, Navas has vowed to get over his phobia: 

“To play for your country is the greatest thing and I hope to be able to, too. I have to be calm and make my decision. I have to continue taking the right steps.” 

There’s no doubt what it means to Navas, but the question is how is he going to break the psychologically barrier? It might be a question of maturity, or a particular bond to his home life that he will have to break. Whether this condition can be cured in time for next year’s World Cup remains to be seen. Spain may not be crying out for a winger but they could do a lot worse than have Navas in their squad to try and capture their first World Cup.