James Maddison has opened up about having his World Cup dream ‘crushed’ after picking up an ACL injury at Tottenham.
The Tottenham man suffered his injury during pre-season, and it immediately became clear that it was a bad injury, with the midfielder in tears as he was stretchered off the pitch.
Maddison has provided some updates on his rehabilitation at Hotspur Way of late, but the 29-year-old is still a long way away from returning.
The chances of the Tottenham Hotspur star making England’s World Cup squad now appear close to zero, and that is something that the midfielder admitted that he has come to terms with.
Tottenham star James Maddison has accepted that his World Cup dream is all but over
Maddison was part of England’s World Cup squad in Qatar but did not manage to get any minutes in the tournament.
Given his age, the 2026 World Cup could have been the last opportunity for Maddison to play in the tournament, and he admitted that having that dream taken away from him was hard to digest.
James Maddison told ITV News about his Tottenham injury: “When I realised, obviously, I was going to be out for the majority of the season, if not the whole season, that kind of crushed that dream of going to the World Cup.
“It was a tough one to take. That’s [one of] the con[s] of football and one of the negatives of missing out through injury. And like I said, it’s about dealing with that mentally. And that’s partly why there’s been some dark days.
“You want to represent your country, you always want to be in a position, especially off the back of a good season last year. Personally, with good numbers, I felt like I was close with Thomas Tuchel coming in.”
When asked whether he’d ruled himself out of a World Cup call-up, Maddison said: “The first and foremost thing for me is just to come back safely and be fit. It’s such a long injury. There are so many ups and downs that I just want to be in a place, returning and having a smile on my face and being fit for Tottenham Hotspur, whenever that is.
“It’s going to be towards the end of the season, so the World Cup is probably going to be ruled out, if not definitely. So, it’s one of those things. As I said, I’ll take it on the chin and, yeah, it’s one of those things that will drive me going forward.”
Maddison admits the football calendar is leading to more injuries
We have seen a sharp rise in ACL injuries at the top level over the last few years, and the Tottenham attacking midfielder believes that the increasing number of matches is a contributing factor.
While Maddison explained that he is someone who wants to play as many matches as possible, he confessed that the safety factor is something that the players should take into account.
When asked why there is an increasing number of ACL injuries in the Premier League of late, the 29-year-old joked: “[I] didn’t pass biology, so I’m not sure why that keeps happening.
“Elite sport is just so intense now at the top level. You go and watch a Premier League game on the sidelines, you’re just like, wow. You’re going back to 30 years, they [ACL injuries] were happening. You probably see them more now, maybe because there are more games… People playing under fatigue. I’m not, I’m not 100% sure on the reason for that.”
“You have to get the balance right because you want to, you want to play, you always want to be playing. You don’t want to play once every two weeks. You know, you want to be out there all the time because that feeling, you can’t replicate that. That’s what the little boy 20 years ago dreamed of playing all the time.
“But obviously, there is a safety factor around the number of games, and we don’t want it to go too far. You’ve seen tournaments added in. Club World Cup was added. And as long as it doesn’t go too far and the people in charge are monitoring it and taking on information if there are more injuries, and then we do start to pick up more and more, having a look at it and maybe taking away a few, but I think that’s above my power.”