Gonzalo Higuain came close to retiring two years ago, but was convinced to continue by his severely ill mother, the Argentine forward told TV channel TyC Sports on Wednesday.
The 30-year-old Juventus forward was undergoing a difficult period at that time with the national team, which had lost three successive major finals — the 2014 FIFA World Cup to Germany and back-to-back Copa America defeats to Chile the following two years.
Higuain was coming under fire from media and fans alike, and his mother’s ill health was a huge concern.
“I was at my lowest ebb, but in the end my mother got better, thank God. She’s fine now,” Higuain said. “When I found out about the seriousness of her illness, after the [2016] Copa America final in the United States, I was on the brink of retiring, but she asked me to keep going.”
Despite 31 goals in 69 internationals, Higuain has not played for Argentina in nine months, but is part of the squad due to face Italy in a World Cup warm-up friendly today in Manchester, England.
While he is delighted to have been called up by coach Jorge Sampaoli, Higuain said that “life is not 100 percent about football.”
“Thanks to my family, I’m stronger now, because I’ve been through some hard times — I suffered a lot with the national team,” he said. “I’m happy, things are going well for me. I’m relishing being back in the national team squad, I missed it.”
Argentina struggled to qualify for the World Cup and only a hat-trick from superstar Lionel Messi away to Ecuador in their final pool match saw the two-time winners scramble into the finals.
However, Argentina will still head to Russia with lofty ambitions.
“The aim is to win it,” Higuain said. “If the [Argentine] people hope we’ll win the World Cup, it’s because we’ve set the bar high.”
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later
RSS