Richarlison considered quitting after the World Cup | ESPN FC

will begin with an emotional exclusive from ESPN Brazil. Rich Carison struggles after the World Cup after shining so much for Brazil in Qatar, although his numbers show how his form declined domestically and he gave a very frank and honest interview about his mental health after he. the World Cup for fore spee fore spee Roar an emotional interview by Rich charison very champion in those who struggle with mental health to go and seek help as we welcome uh Jurgen clintsman jur what from a coach's point of view when someone is injured obviously it's about are you fit, are you ready to go as far as mental health is concerned, how hard is it to deal with when you're trying to get your team going, are you trying to get the best team out there when you're already You've done it.

I have players who are clearly fighting well, probably the biggest challenge for all coaches is understanding what mental conditions the players are in day in and day out and dealing with them at the top level with 25 26 highly paid professionals. and uh, uh, they're all different, they're all very, very different, so I can absolutely feel for Richardon what happened, especially after the World Cup. I was there, I saw them play, I saw his beautiful goal first of all and then I saw him come out against Croatia in a dramatic match and this hits you very, very hard.

I went through such an experience in the 94 World Cup in the United States, we lost in the quarterfinals against Bulgaria and I was destroyed for months, for months, because at that time I had five goals. I thought maybe I could win this as top scorer as well. So this is very, very important today. You know, understand his mental condition. Understand what is happening in their private lives. going on in their public lives, uh, today's generation, there's really nothing to be jealous of because they go through many, many emotional problems, uh, day in and day out, now with social media, obviously, the whole

world

judges you, um, the environment changed, it's a very different one from what we experienced Maybe 20 or 30 years ago, when I took over Germany in 2004, I introduced a sports psychologist to the team and they called me crazy in Germany because it wasn't their way of solving well. the things that the SP psychologist remains today. with the Federation, thank God, because they can read things better than us, you know, come on, basically, our school is from the manager's point of view, it's the game, you know, we study the game day in and day out, we try to find out more important things between people and trying to manage people um, obviously, the wood, you know, uh, man management.

As Stevie often says, you know it's very, very, very important nowadays, but you can't see everything as a manager, you can't see what's going on behind the doors. with your players day in and day out, you know, maybe something personal happens deep down, something in the family, something we don't even know and so I definitely support every step from charison to seek help, you know how to talk. to the professionals to open up, which fortunately they did and I would encourage all players and athletes to do so because you know they are human beings like everyone else and you have problems and you have to solve those problems and often These players They are left alone because obviously we believe that you know that they are machines, they can play day after day, they can play every three four days and it is not the truth, the truth is that they are vulnerable, you know that they are fragile and you have to do it.

Please read that in advance if applicable. I hope you go and ask for help. Therefore, this is a very important topic and it is in all sports. That way, if it's basketball, football, baseball, any sport, especially individual. In sports it's increasingly important that we can understand their mental state, uh, mood and it's interesting that you mentioned 1994, you just went into a little more detail, if you don't mind, it must be a very strange feeling and you fulfilled your aim. you've gone to the World Cup you've scored goals the game you love the game you grew up wanting to play and then suddenly it's associated with not necessarily all the positive things yeah you go through these extremes, you know, high extremes In terms of If you think you're in that tournament, I mean, I scored five goals until the quarterfinals.

I thought I had a lot of possibilities. You know that the maximum was six goals that we had with Germany in that World Cup. Good good team, you know, we had the addition of players from East Germany who joined us after reunification and we were overconfident, in a way we were too arrogant to win the tournament, but in terms of quality, we probably had the best team than 1990 when we won the World Cup and then when you get that surprise, another nation sends you home and they gave you a better game, then it's very difficult for you to understand it and you fly back, you know, to Germany. or where maybe you're on vacation and you're trying to understand what really happened um and it's that it's deep it's deep in you so what Ralison felt and I watched all the Brazil games in Qatar I mean they did it until that defeat against Croatia for me.

Brazil was the best team in Qatar because they were one step ahead of Argentina at that time we are talking about the quarterfinals, then France, so everyone feels the pain differently, obviously, we are all different and some players, so you know they go you go too deep into their frustration and they go into a depressive mode and you have to read that you have to understand that, but you know, as a national team manager, then it's not like you don't live with them during the day. every day, so their family must be there, their friends must be there, they must understand what is really happening now with such exceptional athletes, but at the end of the day they are very, very normal people, simple people. and they need help and I'm very happy that he asked for help and got the help and got out of this dark time and is back in very, very good shape and playing wonderful football again.

It must be a strange feeling because you want to play, you obviously know you want to, you want to go out, you want to be part of your team, but in the back of your head you know you're not, you're not where you are. You should have talked about this in your book, like when Hillsb happened, something you put deep into it, but you realized you weren't exactly the same player you wanted to be and the good thing about today isn't just Ralson leaving. and others before him talking about this type of things is that each Club has a sports psychologist and it is almost or should be almost for a coach like going to the physio and asking about someone's injury, you as a coach should go to the psychologist and say Where is Richardson or any of his players?

Is he in a position where he can play? Is he in a position where playing him will help him or does he just have to have a bye week? I mean, that's what you should do as a coach. I truly believe that at this point he is similar to any other member of your staff that you would go to to try to fix a situation. Unfortunately, that option is now there for players. I can 100% tell you that we should. after Hillsbor has been given the option, yes, of counseling, but no one mentioned it and, more importantly, there is no player, then at that moment he would have had the courage that Richardson just showed to tell him to someone and sit down. in front of someone with tears in their eyes explaining how you feel and how you want to get better, that option wasn't there so I think we're lucky that for people like Rich Charson right now that option is there, unfortunately they're taking advantage of it because everything What you are going to do is help them.

Jgen mentioned it and it's interesting because obviously if you look at the financials, all the players are being paid more than ever. Is there any argument to say that they are under more pressure than they were? of social media because the spotlight is always absolutely on and I think social media has another different layer to it but that pressure has always been there and to be honest the pressure is part of the game and we almost use that um like some. It's kind of a badge on our sleeves because of the way we've handled it over the years and to get to this level of the game you have to be able to deal with the pressure, you've dealt with it all. your life or in different ways as a young player who is getting ahead is that margin between success and failure, am I good enough? our own mental health and dealing with the pressures of the game most of the time we get over it so the belief is just give it a little time and I'll get over it but as you progress through the levels Particularly, did you hear Jan talk about That, Rich Charison talks about that when you're in a tournament like the World Cup and it's not just about your own successes and failures, but you're carrying the expectation of a nation on your back of all the people you love, all the people. who have contributed to your career, suddenly you feel like you are carrying your own mental health and any type of failure becomes complicated and is often too much for you. person who will be and well, some can smile and get over it, others need a more damning effect and the creditor richison again.

I totally agree with Stevie here, it's important for players who are going through these times to draw attention to it. let young players let others in the game at any level know that they are not alone that their situation is not unique that they have to go out and get help at the same time. Again I credit the game for making sports psychologists. or psychiatrists are part of the setup because in the past that was a coaching job and a coach is not a coach, you are not trained to do that, you are not trained to diagnose or talk to players about it, secondly, a coach has to choose who.

His best team is to go out and win a game because his mental health depends on it, his successes depend on it, but the last thing that rich character or anyone in his position needed at that moment is to be left out and now everything suddenly, as a coach here, you're not trained to deal with it, you're trained to make the best team in the park and all of a sudden that adds to the problems, so again, it's a good thing the game is moving in this direction. for a long time and hopefully the young players can take heart from the direction and bravery shown by Rich Charison and others you were talking about about pressure and they may just say, wait a second, this is the kind of pressure what do you have.

To deal with whether you're going to play for Brazil or whether you're going to play at an elite level, just look at it from the perspective that a lot of these players, where they come from, there's real pressure on them. been putting food on the table for their families, that the fact that they have gotten to this point there is a whole long line of people in their family that depend on their success and so when we talk about pressure, measuring pressure, let's think in it this way. Rationally from the perspective of a guy like Re Charlon or whoever.

Look, my real pressure is to put food on the table for my family and I've been able to do that, so I've handled it. I know what the pressure is like. I know what it feels like that's pressure that's pressure not knowing where the next meal is coming from and we're out of that so it's not so much about the pressure itself but dealing with the disappointment of what the expectations were, your own expectations. expectations of a country, the expectations of everyone around you, of that long line of people who depend on you not being able to meet those expectations and that is something that we all play to win our field where the competition was and win. and when you don't do that, it hits you and it hits you hard and to the point that these guys were doing and the urgan was making now this available in the game, what's also important is that it's no longer taboo to talk about it. that and it's becoming more normal to talk about it, I can't actually imagine it and I won't go back as far as Stevie or Saka, but I can't imagine a locker room even in my moment where I get up and actually talk about the fact . that you have mental health problems was taboo it was a sign of weakness it was a sign of a guy you can't trust and the guy who actually spoke up and said I have mental health problems you don't trust that guy Already in the locker room you give him your back on that guy, it's like no, this is not a guy we can bring into the game because we don't know how he's going to react to the fact that players like Rich Charlon are talking.

This makes that taboo label disappear and normalizes the conversation and I think it is very important to point out that the presence of a sports psychologist whose profession is to deal with his mental health has already been mentioned, which was not the case. For us that was not the case the first time I met a sports psychologist in a football environment it was with the national team and even that was a bit like when he went and talked because you have to talk. They give me an appointment with the sports psychologist I was on guard I I you know I I I don't know if I trusted the situation and the process itself, so the more normal it becomes, the more players will trust the process of the person with whom they They are talking, exposing their emotions so that then I Now you can go andperforming on the field, which in the end is what most people really care about is that you go and perform and how you go and perform when you free yourself from this pressure.