At the time of writing there have, thankfully, not been at any major injuries at Euro 2012. Football can be a dangerous sport but the main problem these days seems to be fatigue.
After the game against France the England manager Roy Hodgson spoke about the need to rest players for the next game against Sweden. He mentioned that players needed to rest and recover properly if they were to play two games in four days.
Many people are understandably cynical about sportsmen needing time to recuperate. It does seem crazy that they should seem to be so molly coddled when they are athletes.
Revitalise
High level performers know that rest is almost as important as all the work they do in the gym and on the training pitch.
Muscles need time to repair, rebuild and strengthen. If they are pushed too far they can be pulled and the athlete suddenly needs to get out their cold packs and physio supplies to cope with the pain.
If the body is not given sufficient time to recover then it can start to break down and this can cause serious long-term injuries. For instance, some footballers have suffered knee ligament injuries because of the overdue stresses and strains they have but on their bodies.
Overtraining
There is a recognised problem in athletes and also people that work out too much and it is called overtraining syndrome.
Sometimes people get addicted to the endorphins that are released when you do exercise and like any drug they continue to want more. In doing so they ignore the messages that their body is telling them and carry on until it finally gives up.
If people over train their performance levels actually decrease. Without proper periods of rest built in to a training programme your ability to run the race or play the game is dramatically reduced.
One of the signs of the over trainer is an increased incidence of injuries and also reduced enthusiasm for the sport for which they are working so hard to get fit.
Enthusiasm
Because, to keep your dedication and focus for whatever you are training for, maintaining enthusiasm for it is vital.
It makes no difference if you are just training for a fun run or a professional athlete getting ready for the Olympics, if you lose passion for it whilst preparing you will not perform.
So when a footballer is resting he is actually working, as rest is vital to his performance.