RVP injury update
Having just watched the first half of the Hungary/Holland match I feel better positioned to offer a confident appraisal.
The foul on RVP was committed by Juhasz in the 29th minute. (28:37) The defender looms in clumsily from behind, connecting with his right knee around the back of RVPs left upper leg around the thigh/gluteal area. RVP is braced and leaning slightly back as he takes the impact. This means that it doesnt take a great deal of force in the impact area (just effective leverage) for the line of gravity to come outside the base of support (a circle around the feet) and for a new base of support to manifest
in this instance RVPs ass
think back to when someone places their knee at the back of your leg from behind when youre standing, it usually illicits an amusing flop like action as leverage, momentum and gravity work their magic, now think what would happen if you were braced and leaning backwards when this happened. This could be complicated if the boot studs got caught in the ground, which, in this instance, they didnt. For a pitch-side physio, RVPs subsequent actions would reveal it to be a fairly innocuous tackle.
Interestingly, RVP, immediately after the tackle, lies prone and totally motion-less. As soon as the whistle blows for a foul, RVP reacts instantly, rolling over and getting to his feet. Tellingly, here, we can clearly see RVPs facial expression, he exhibits no signs of grimacing or pain and no signs of worry or anxiety. If he was in any pain or injured, he would not be able to hide this in his facial expression.
We can make further confident inferences with RVPs resulting game incidents post the tackle:
29:35 mins: Sharp turn, twisting and accelerating from a standing start.
31:36 mins. Makes strong sliding tackle, intuitively and spontaneously gets to his feet and accelerates sharply.
32:43 mins: a phase of play which shows RVP making passes, sprinting and moving with perfect mechanical fluidity.
33.55 mins: drifting deep to link up play and 45.53 mins: defending in the penalty area. If a striker was carrying an injury, he would probably not be running box to box.
38:40 mins: shows lovely quick, soft feet and agile hip movement around the box.
The movements highlighted are important, as these movements broken down can form part of a battery of tests to confirm a player match fit and are some of the most mechanically demanding match actions. Furthermore, post tackle, RVP exhibits no sign of an antalgic gait, (a form of gait abnormality where the stance phase of gait is abnormally shortened relative to the swing phase. It can be a good indication of pain with weight-bearing) indeed, he shows no sign of any dis-comfort whatsoever throughout the rest of the half. If any injuries were present the movements RVP exhibited would not be as pure or as fluid as he performed them.
IMO from a physiotherapy perspective RVP shows no signs of any lingering injury whatsoever. At worst he could have suffered a very minor contusion, the sort you can often run-off in a match. Although, in fairness, there were no signs of even this. There is always the possibility that he may well feel some soreness and tightness the next day, but he would have been straight on the physio plinth and the training ground for treatment
movement therapies and stretching techniques would be allied to some massage techniques to minimise any haematoma formation. He should be 100% fit for the weekend.
