The anxiety of the modern footballer (Part 8)

The Slovakian international Cech is concerned that he will miss out on next summer's World Cup party after losing his regular place in the Albion team.

Once again, the modern footballer's loyalty between club and country becomes a key topic.

What is it with footballers these days? On the one hand they are retiring from international duty because of all of the meaningless fixtures; on the other they are frustrated they're not getting the quota of games required to bolster their World Cup dream.

A lack of recent first team action for Cech was enough for him to start to ponder about his future at West Brom. He said: "I understand that sometimes you don`t play all of the games and I know that this is a long season. We will see how it pans out for me. It`s not good for me to be sat on the bench, because I want to play in the World Cup."

Now, I'm not about to start trampling on anyone's lifetime dream, but if you want to get first team action - get on the training pitch and do some work. As far as I'm concerned, players are picked on merit and/ or tactical application. Not, I'm afraid, because you want to look good for your country.

Cech has made ten starts this year and has been a much improved player and a major part of our success this season, including coming off the bench at the weekend in the victory over Leicester City. It was only last season that the more games he played the greater his chance of NOT playing for Slovakia was the case! Cruel, yes, but ever so fair.

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