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• Virtual reality could help improve heading skills amid new restrictions – study

  Virtual reality could help footballers improve their heading without the repetitive head impacts from a ball, a new study indicates.

  Players involved in a study at Manchester Metropolitan University’s Institute of Sport and its Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences demonstrated greater performance in ‘real world’ heading after training with a VR headset compared to a control group who did no training.

  The VR group also reported greater self-confidence and efficacy in their heading compared to the control group, the study found.

  The study, titled: ‘A preliminary investigation into the efficacy of training soccer heading in immersive virtual reality’, has been published in the journal Virtual Reality on Tuesday.

  It provides some insights into how players may be able to improve heading technique amid restrictions on training.

  Football Association guidelines advise against any heading training in under-12s, while a trial is ongoing in the current season and next season to eliminate deliberate heading completely from matches up to and including that age group.

  At ages 12 and 13, heading should be limited to a single session of no more than five headers, and no more than 10 headers per session for children aged 14 to 17, according to FA guidance.

  Even in adult football at all levels, players are advised to perform only 10 ‘higher force headers’ per training week, such as headers from crosses, corners, free-kicks and returning of goal kicks.

  The exposure to heading has been limited because of concerns over the sub-concussive impact of repetitive heading on a player’s longer-term wellbeing.

  The 2019 FIELD Study found professional footballers were three and a half times more likely to die of neurodegenerative disease than age-matched members of the general population.

  “With increasing restrictions of heading exposure to professional and youth soccer, it is evident that alternative methods for training heading confidence and technique will be required while it remains an integral part of the game,” the VR paper concluded.

  “The work presented here provides some initial evidence suggesting that immersive VR may have a place in any new approach to training this important skill.”

  A group of 36 adult recreational-level players, made up of 30 men and six women, participated in the study in total.

  The 36 were split into two groups of 18, with 16 men and two women in the control group who did not use the VR headsets between ‘real world’ heading sessions, and 14 men and four women in the VR group.

  The VR group used the Oculus Quest 2 head-mounted display, with the Rezzil Player 22 application used to provide the VR football heading training.

  Dr Ben Marshall, Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology at the Manchester Metropolitan University Institute of Sport, said: “Our findings show that virtual reality (VR) based training can be used to improve real-world heading performance and that this method is more effective than not training the skill at all.

  “This is important as current training guidelines recommend limiting the number of physical headers performed in training for all age groups due to the associated long-term risks to player health.

  “Our findings suggest the inclusion of VR-based training could play an important role in developing football heading skills whilst reducing the number of real-world headers and sub-concussive head impacts that players need to be exposed to – which is really positive.”

• Inter boss Simone Inzaghi calls opponents Man City ‘strongest team in the world’

  Simone Inzaghi will send Inter Milan into Champions League battle with “the strongest team in the world” on Saturday evening.

  Inter will go head-to-head with English double winners Manchester City in Istanbul, with Pep Guardiola’s men hot favourites to complete the same treble won by arch-rivals Manchester United in 1999.

  However, Inzaghi has told his players not to fear the challenge ahead of them as they attempt to repeat the feat of their predecessors in 2010.

  The 47-year-old head coach told a press conference: “I know we’ll meet the strongest team in the world at the moment. We face the best.

  “We’re talking about a football match and with all due respect, I’m not afraid of anything.

  “Guardiola is the best coach in the world and he has marked an era. We have respect, but we are proud to play in this final that we wanted with all our strength.

  “It will be the last of 57 matches in which even the much-talked-about defeats have allowed us to get to where we will be on Saturday.”

  Asked if the game would be the biggest of his illustrious career, Inzaghi added: “Yes it is, for me and for my players.

  “[Andre] Onana and [Edin] Dzeko have played in the semi-finals, but nobody has ever made it to the final. It pays us back for all the efforts made throughout the year.”

  Much of the focus in the build-up to the game has centred on the threat posed to Inter’s hopes by 52-goal City striker Erling Haaland, even though the Norway international has scored only once in his last seven appearances.

  Inzaghi, who revealed he had unexpectedly bumped into Guardiola at a New York hotel during his honeymoon in 2019, said: “Haaland said City bought him to win the Champions League, but City isn’t just Haaland; they have numerous players who can put us in trouble.

  “[Real Madrid’s Antonio] Rudiger managed to stop him very well in the semi-final and we’ll try to take our cue from that.”

  That was a theme taken up by defender Alessandro Bastoni, who warned his team-mates not to ignore the danger posed by Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne in particular.

  Bastoni said: “City bought Haaland to win the Champions League, but they also have Bernardo [Silva] and [Kevin] De Bruyne who can put us in trouble.

  “I watched a video of how Rudiger stopped Haaland and we will try to do the same. But it’s not Inter against Haaland, it’s Inter against City.”

  Inzaghi remained coy over his team selection, insisting he is yet to make a decision over whether to start Dzeko or Romelu Lukaku in attack, adding: “A coach can have ideas, but maybe he changes his mind at the last second.”

• VAR wrong to intervene with Grealish handball, says Halsey

  VAR was wrong to intervene in the incident which caused Jack Grealish to be penalised for handball in the FA Cup final.

  That is the view of former Premier League referee Mark Halsey, who feels the Manchester City and England star had been hard done by after conceding a penalty in the first half.

  There was relief for Grealish and City at Wembley on Saturday, as they went on to win the final 2-1 despite Bruno Fernandes' equaliser from the penalty spot.

  That 33rd-minute spot-kick came after a VAR intervention. Aaron Wan-Bissaka headed the ball into Grealish's arm from close range as the pair battled to reach a cross-field pass from Fernandes.

  The match referee Paul Tierney initially waved away strong United appeals, but VAR called him to the monitor at the next break in play.

  Halsey told Stats Perform: "The problem we have at present; we have got too many inconsistencies about when to get involved or when not to get involved. 

  "VAR is here to stay and I think it's a great tool because we have seen many goals given where the system has then put the flag up and we have seen goals ruled out when the flag hasn't gone up and the player has been just offside, so that is factual. 

  "But I'm seeing many subjective decisions being recommended for review – some being recommended, some not being recommended. 

  "Then we have some handballs given, some handballs not given, and some holding offences in the penalty area recommend for review, some not. 

  "Since Howard Webb has come in I think the consistency has improved, but there is still some inconsistency there, so there's a lot of work still to be done with VAR. 

  "It's simple – VAR should only get involved if it's a clear and obvious error, an absolute howler. That is when VAR has to get involved."

  Asked specifically about the Grealish decision, Halsey added: "If you look at the game, that incident, that passage of play, was that a deliberate act? No. 

  "A player that deliberately moves his hand or arm towards the ball or if they are making themselves unnaturally bigger, then they run the risk of a handball being given against him. 

  "But were his arms in an unnatural or natural position for that passage of play? I've played the game at very, very high levels as a semi-professional – for me his arms for that passage of play were in a natural position. 

  "So I think we have a problem of understanding what is natural and what is unnatural. I don't think anybody knows anymore, do they?

  "Paul Tierney is there [near the incident], he has seen it and he's not given it. On that situation, it is subjective. 

  "So is that clear enough and obvious error by Paul Tierney for VAR to get involved? For me, no, because Paul Tierney is in a great position. He has possibly seen it and he thinks, 'Well hang on I don't think that's deliberate, I think arms are in a natural position'. 

  "We don't know that because we don't hear the conversation, I'm just assuming. So VAR then gets involved and I question should David Coote have got involved. 

  "Was it correct in law? Perhaps if he's [Coote] is refereeing his opinion is [Grealish] has made himself bigger, and his arms are in the air, and it is an unnatural position. 

  "But Paul Tierney the on field referee doesn't give that. So was that clear enough and obvious enough for VAR to get involved? For me, no. 

  "The law is an ass – we need players involved as well because it's no criticism of the referee. It's the law that needs looking at. It is the same with offside, no one knows what is or what isn't and it's the same with handball.

  "There is so much subjectivity involved in handball – we have seen some awful decisions regarding handball. So it's all over the place and difficult for referees because the way the law is worded and obviously they are unsure what is natural and what is unnatural with your arms."

  For Halsey, the solution to the dilemma over the handball law is clear.

  He said: "Back to how it used to be, that it has to be a deliberate act. Deliberate with your arm moving towards the ball.

  "None of this unnatural or natural? Was his arm up in the air? Did you make yourself bigger? It's simple – ask was that a deliberate act of handling the ball?"

  Victory for Premier League winners City gave them a seventh FA Cup triumph, with Saturday's Champions League final against Inter giving Pep Guardiola's men a chance to win the treble, a feat which would match rivals United's accomplishment in 1999.