Andres Guardado is a terrific player. The diminutive left-footer has all the qualities one would want in a midfielder: speed, he’s good on the ball, his passing is terrific and his shot is ferocious. When he plays, he makes his presence felt.
But his playing time has been sparse because his body keeps betraying him.
As good as Guardado is, he is unfortunately being defined by the unreasonable high string of muscular injuries he has sustained over the past few years. Even his World Cup debut in 2006 came to a premature end with a thigh injury. He is an integral player for Deportivo La Coruña, but his tenure in Galicia has been marred by one injury after another. He finally returned to action this week only to play 31 minutes before having to be subbed because of another injury. The team sent him on an early vacation. Almost all of the injuries have all been muscular. And they all have been strikingly similar. His ankles and knees are fine.
Guardado gives it his all when he is on the pitch, which is commendable. But if he aims to continue to play that way, then he has to prepare his body to absorb the stress and friction of his style of play.
I am in no way qualified to offer any kind of counsel to the Little Prince, but it seems that what he is doing now ain’t working. He is still young, at 24, but now might be a good time to re-evaluate his strength and conditioning routine. He has the tools, let’s hope he finds a way to use them for a long time.