Is it just me or do players retain their fitness for much longer than previous generations?
I grew up with football players declining when they got past 30 and if someone played until 34, he was pretty old and usually a CB. Now we have many 32+ footballers who not only play but are still among the very best in their positions and play pretty far up the field: Ronaldo, Modric, Marcelo, Robben, Ribery, Pirlo, Iniesta, Ibrahimovic, Dani Alves, Quaresma (at least at this WC) among them even some who were injury prone and/or not known for their professionalism and I'm quite sure I still forgot more than enough. Some simply seem to refuse to age.
I know there are cases like Scholes and Giggs but nowadays there seem to be much more of these types of players. How will long will this continue? Will Cristiano still be scoring 30+ goals a season aged 38? Is 35 the new 30 and we can now expect players to at least somewhat maintain their level until 33? Or has nothing changed at all and this is just me experiencing the end of the first generation I really saw from their teens to thirties?
I grew up with football players declining when they got past 30 and if someone played until 34, he was pretty old and usually a CB. Now we have many 32+ footballers who not only play but are still among the very best in their positions and play pretty far up the field: Ronaldo, Modric, Marcelo, Robben, Ribery, Pirlo, Iniesta, Ibrahimovic, Dani Alves, Quaresma (at least at this WC) among them even some who were injury prone and/or not known for their professionalism and I'm quite sure I still forgot more than enough. Some simply seem to refuse to age.
I know there are cases like Scholes and Giggs but nowadays there seem to be much more of these types of players. How will long will this continue? Will Cristiano still be scoring 30+ goals a season aged 38? Is 35 the new 30 and we can now expect players to at least somewhat maintain their level until 33? Or has nothing changed at all and this is just me experiencing the end of the first generation I really saw from their teens to thirties?