This is hardly a question worth asking, is it?
"Of course Hutchinson starts against Cuba on Friday," you're likely saying. "If he's fit."
Here's the thing about fitness, though. There's no fitness switch. It's not a binary situation, wherein you're either fit or unfit. Every athlete -- every person -- is, at any given moment, somewhere on the continuum of fitness.
So while there's a good chance Atiba Hutchinson will be physically capable of taking the field for Canada in World Cup qualifying, the question remains: Should he?
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"Of course he should!" you're continuing to think. "In the biggest games, you need your biggest players."
It doesn't get much bigger than World Cup qualifying, and Hutchinson is undoubtedly one of Canada's top players. But in the same way that fitness isn't an either-or proposition, lineup selection doesn't take place in a vacuum. It's all about context and circumstances.
While it's very dangerous to overlook any opponent -- especially one about whom not very much is known -- Cuba is by far the weakest member of this World Cup qualifying group. This is a team, after all, that finished last summer's Gold Cup with three losses and a goal differential of minus-15.
The weather conditions (a 2 p.m. ET kickoff in Havana will be mighty steamy) and what's sure to be an awful playing surface are not particularly conducive to the recovery process for someone who has aggravated a knee injury. Head coach Stephen Hart insisted that the 103-degree Fahrenheit temperatures during the team's Florida training camp weren't a factor in Hutchinson's latest setback; still, the human body is more susceptible to knocks under such conditions.
And while the ideal Canadian lineup includes a healthy and motivated Hutchinson, Canada has managed to scrape together decent performances without him in the last 12 months, including this past Sunday's 0-0 draw with the United States. That's not to undermine Hutchinson's value; it's more of a testament to his teammates' ability to compensate for his noticeable absence on the field.
So the argument could be made that if Hutchinson is less than ready to go, putting him out there against an inferior opponent, in less-than-ideal conditions, would actually be a bad idea. You could say, in fact, that the wiser move would be to leave him out of the lineup until the all-important home game vs. Honduras in a week's time.
Of course, it's all contingent on Hutchinson's health, and the condition of his knee is what's going to ultimately make the decision about whether or not he plays. But if he declares himself fit to play, it does present an interesting mini-conundrum.
What do you think? Do we need Hutchinson in the lineup against Cuba badly enough that it makes up for the risk of further injury? Or should he be held out of the starting lineup this Friday, with the expectation that his teammates will be able to pick up the slack down in Havana?
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