Happy Birthday Eduardo

Posted by :devday On : February 25, 2008

Tags:Arsenal, birmingham, da silva, eduardo, premier league, recovery

Me and Eduardo have one thing in common - we share the same birthday. I'm sitting here fit as a fiddle having come back from my birthday dinner. Eduardo, on the other hand is in hospital recovering from his unfortunate weekend.

Public reaction has been good and bad. GilbertoSilver from Gunnerblog re-interated my feelings from yesterday’s blog in reaction to Stephen Kelly’s comments. Sometimes you back your team mates, but sometimes you just keep quiet.

Another team mate and former Gunner, Seb Larsson basically loses all the respect he gained with the winner at Sp*rs earlier this season with his comments. He calls Wenger childish and a sore loser. Not great timing Mr Larsson. Here’s the quote.

It’s idiotic and childish for Wenger to say things like that. Of course it was horrible to see. But everybody who knows Martinwould also know he would never hurt anybody on purpose and for Wenger to say things like that just prove he is a sore loser. Then again, his whole team were the same. Arsenal were in a bad mood all game. They were very unsportsmanlike.

I am determined to overcome injury

Eduardo, who turns 25 today, released a statement last night, which I have quoted here in full:

“I don’t remember the incident very well and it is not something that I want to see again on television or in the newspapers.All I remember is that when I fell, I looked down at my foot and it had turned the other way. The rest is just a blank. It was an unfortunate situation but these things can happen in football. I am unsure at the moment of the extent of the injury and how long I will be out of action for but I know that I won’t be able to play for Arsenal for the rest of the season or be ready in time for the Euros this summer. But I’m not worried about that. My concentration and determination is on making as quick a recovery as possible. I am determined to overcome this injury. I would like to thank the medical team here at Arsenal for their efforts as well as the staff at Selly Oak Hospital who carried out the operation on Saturday night. Everyone there made me feel as comfortable as possible. I would also like to say how touched I am by the many messages of support I have received and to be surrounded by my loved ones at this time.”

This statement sums up the attitude of Eduardo. He is a professional and he has so much passion and desire that he knows he will come back from this. You have to admire his sheer desire and will to not let this prevent him from acheiving his goals. Eduardo famously slept in a Croatian stadium as a teenager at sub-zero temperatures, he has got to where he got to by hard work and will power.

Eduardo moved to praised the Arsenal medical staff and the staff from Selly Oak Hospital, and it was confirmed today that if the medical staff had not been so quick in attending and treating the injury, Eduardo could have lost his foot. As these pictures show, he foot was virtually disconnected from the rest of his leg. Sorry for the graphic description, but in reality, this is what has happened. People some time forget how a brutal challenge can end someone’s career. Hopefully for Eduardo, that is not the case. The Gooner Forum talks about how the FA really need to take steps against this sort of thing.

I remember when Eduardo joined Arsenal this summer, his determination was apparent…

“He [Henry] is, in my opinion, one of the best strikers in the world, but I have my own path and I will try very, very hardfrom the first day on to fight for my place in the team and leave a mark of my own on Arsenal,”

This goal against Man City was a real gem, and an example of his quality.

BBC radio 5 live had an osteopath on their show today, who said:

“You can lose the foot, simple as. Once the foot dislocates like that, it can badly damage the blood vessels and it’s very,very serious. The foot needs to be relocated immediately or almost immediately to save it and emergency surgery is completely necessary. Potentially, the bones will heal but there’s all the other damage around the area, such as the ligament damage, the tendon damage, the soft tissue damage, the damage to the joint capsule. ‘He’s going to have to do an awful lot of work to regain full mobility and strength to the ankle to get him up to the standard of playing international football. Whether he can do that or not, I’m not sure.”

Well, there is a lot of truth in that, and most people are saying that recovering from this psychologically is half the battle. I must have read / watched a dozen interviews and discussions and I’m confident that Eduardo will come back stronger than ever.

There is a slightly twisted picture, not of Eduardo but of Martin Taylor, so if you fancy a twist to this blog, take a look. I don’t think it’s real personally and let’s all hope it’s not.

Flamini has been talking about how this incident will fuel the team’s hunger even further to win the title for Eduardo. I hope we win it for him. Flamini spoke after the game on Saturday and said:

“We wanted to win the title before but now we want to win it also for him. He is not going to be with us for a long time, so ofcourse we want to win it for him. We are still three points clear at the top but the way we have only drawn is going to be disappointing because there was an opportunity to win this game. We came back, we showed great character and I think that was the only positive thing from the game.”

Better news this afternoon, Eduardo could be running again in 6 months

Arsenal.com have been posting messages for Eduardo and you can send your messages to the web site or write to him personally.

Click here to email Arsenal and leave your message

You can read the messages here or as suggested, if you want to write to him, the address is:

Eduardo da Silva, c/o Arsenal FC, Highbury House, 75 Drayton Park, London, England, N5 1BU.

A club statment released today says Eduardo may be back in approximately 9 months, which is awesome news.

All being well, Eduardo will have his leg in plaster and using crutches for the next six to eight weeks. After that time, partial weight-bearing exercises will be scheduled into a slow rehabilitation process. It is hoped that Eduardo will be running again in six months time and making a full recovery after nine months. Eduardo will be released from hospital in a few days.

It’s amazing that he could come back so quickly. Full recovery in 9 months? – it may be a bit premature to estimate that; fitness levels will play an important part in the recovery too. But I’d say let’s wait and see what happens in the next few weeks. In 9 months, or even 10 months, would see him return next December. As East Lower says, The next pint you have, raise it to Eduardo.

A little something that Young Guns pointed out is that you can vote for Eduardo for the Carling Cup player of the season. Some people may think this is in “charity” due to the injury – but realistically, he scored 4 wonderful goals through out the campaign and they were all special.

Tomorrow I will be looking at our attacking options in his absence in more detail having briefly mentioned our options yesterday…

Just before I go, a shout out to all the fans of other teams, even our bitter rivals, who have taken time out to spare a thought for Eduardo; OnlyOneUnited said, “I wish Eduardo a speedy recovery and hope everything works out for him”, cheers guys, I’m sure Dudu would be touched.]]>