The War of the Weary

Soccer’s biggest stars have been playing almost nonstop for a year. Over the next month, major tournaments like Euro 2020 may be decided by which ones have the most left in the tank.

LONDON — A couple of weeks ago, as the players who will represent Wales in this summer’s European soccer championships started to report for duty, their coaching staff instituted an unwritten rule: Try, if at all possible, not to mention the F word. It is not that the word is expressly forbidden; more discouraged. “We don’t want it to be a factor going in,” said Tony Strudwick, the team’s head of performance. “We haven’t used the term. We are not talking about fatigue.” Discussing it in public might look like making excuses. Talking about it in private might sow doubt in the players. That does not mean, of course, that Strudwick and his colleagues — and every other top team in the world facing a championship-filled summer — are not thinking about it almost constantly.