Players Union accusing FIFA of not protecting Uruguay’s Alvaro Pereira after apparent concussion
There was one scary moment in Uruguay’s 2-1 win over England in the 2014 World Cup, and that’s when XX Alvaro Pereira got knocked out after a knee to the temple from England’s Raheem Sterling.
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Uruguay’s training staff attended to Pereira, but the player went back in the game soon after, and that has led FIFPro, the world soccer players union, to accuse FIFA of not protecting the player.
You can see the injury in question here:
GIF: Pereira stays in after getting brutally kneed straight in the temple. pic.twitter.com/XpNkLH8HmN
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) June 19, 2014
Pereira got up and was being helped to the sideline, but appeared completely out of it while walking to the sideline. That’s where things got interesting though, as the trainers called for a sub and Pereira became incensed at the thought of being subbed out.
The players union feels as if FIFA isn’t doing enough to protect players and is demanding immediate talks with FIFA in regards to players health matters:
“The World Footballers’ Association is seeking urgent talks and immediate assurances that FIFA can guarantee the safety of the players, which must be priority number one, for the remainder of this tournament and beyond.”
It also seeks to put a spotlight on the increase of concussive incidents in the game and also identifies one of the biggest issues with the treatment of those injuries—the players themselves.
"Football is awash with incidents in which players suffer potentially concussive blows to the head and stay on the pitch. In Pereira’s case, he demanded to play on while overruling advice from Uruguay’s team physician for him to be immediately substituted."
FIFPro is seeking many changes to the procedures that happen, including that the sideline concussion tests not be done by national team physicians. Also on the list of ideas from FIFPro is allowing temporary substitutions while the tests are being completed on the sideline.
Pereira’s incident put a spotlight on an ugly side of the game, but hopefully FIFPro and FIFA can come together to make sure incidents like this don’t happen again.