Lionel Messi set off alarm bells in the Argentine camp after skipping training on Thursday because of a mild cold, two days ahead of the World Cup quarter-final against Germany.
Spokesman Andres Ventura said Messi came out for practice at the University of Pretoria, but coach Diego Maradona decided to send him back to his room to rest.
“Messi has cold-like symptoms, nothing serious,” team doctor Donato Villani said. “Tomorrow [Friday] he’ll be training at full speed.”
Messi, FIFA’s reigning player of the year, has not scored a goal in South Africa, but has been involved in setting up six of Argentina’s 11 goals. Defenses have consistently crowded around Messi, leaving space for forwards Gonzalo Higuain and Carlos Tevez.
Substitute Javier Pastore took Messi’s place in practice on Thursday, playing with 10 others who are likely to start in today’s quarter-final in Cape Town against Germany. The other 10 were Sergio Romero, Nicolas Otamendi, Martin Demichelis, Nicolas Burdisso, Gabriel Heinze, Maxi Rodriguez, Javier Mascherano, Angel di Maria, Tevez and Higuain.
Memphis Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke, 29, has died, the NBA team said in a statement on Tuesday, while the family of Jason Collins, the first openly gay man to play in a major US pro sports league, announced the former Grizzlies and Brooklyn Nets player had died after a battle with brain cancer. “We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of Brandon Clarke,” the Grizzlies said in a statement posted on social media. “Brandon was an outstanding teammate and an even better person whose impact on the organization and the greater Memphis community will not be forgotten.” The statement did not provide
Taiwan’s top male badminton player, Chou Tien-chen, on Saturday bowed out in the men’s singles semi-finals at the Thailand Open after losing in straight games to Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn. The world No. 6 Chou, seeded fourth at the Super 500 tournament, lost to the world No. 2 Thai 21-7, 21-19 in 53 minutes. The victory improved Vitidsarn’s head-to-head record against Chou to 3-5. Chou, 36, trailed throughout the opening game after the score was tied 2-2. His relatively passive approach allowed the 25-year-old Thai to capitalize on Chou’s defensive clears with powerful smashes while committing few unforced errors. The Taiwanese
FRUSTRATION: Gauff smacked herself on the head with her racket before storming down the tunnel, emerging afterward to have a heated discussion with her coach Elina Svitolina on Saturday won the Italian Open after beating Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 6-2 to claim her third Rome title, while Jannik Sinner set a date with Casper Ruud in the men’s final. Ukraine’s Svitolina had not claimed a WTA 1000 title since her last victory at the Foro Italico eight years ago, but prevailed over the ever-erratic Gauff to claim her 20th tournament triumph. Saturday’s win over Gauff was her third in a row against a player in the top four of the world rankings — including Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina — ahead of the French
West Ham United’s 3-1 defeat at Newcastle United on Sunday left Tottenham Hotspur realistically only needing one more point to win the battle for English Premier League survival, while Bruno Fernandes made history in Manchester United’s 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest. Spurs can avoid dropping out of the English top flight for the first time in nearly 50 years with victory at Chelsea today, but a draw would also likely suffice thanks to their much superior goal-difference over West Ham. “Overall bad performance. Too many things [went wrong], I think we gifted them the goals,” West Ham head caoch Nuno Espirito Santo
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