Lionel Messi wishes Diego Maradona had been able to hand him the World Cup trophy last month, but he has no regrets over the time it took him to lead Argentina to football's greatest prize.
Messi inspired Argentina to their fourth World Cup in Qatar last year, winning the Golden Ball award after scoring seven goals at the tournament – including two in the final against France.
The Albiceleste's triumph was their first in the competition since Maradona – who died in 2020 – produced his own series of talismanic displays to lead them to glory at Mexico 1986.
During an interview in Paris with Andy Kusnetzoff, Messi said he regretted the fact Maradona – who coached him at the 2010 World Cup – was not alive to witness his crowning moment.
"I would have liked Diego to give me the cup, or at least to see all this, to see Argentina as world champions, with everything he wanted and how he loved the national team," Messi said.
"I think from above, he – like a lot of people who love me – were strong."
While Messi had to wait until his fifth and likely final World Cup to lift the trophy, the legendary attacker says his triumph could not have come at a better time.
"I think if I had to choose the moment, it would have been this one," Messi said. "It's at the end of my career, closing a cycle.
"I achieved everything with the national team as I always dreamed. I got everything in my career, individually. It was about closing my career in a unique way.
"I never imagined that all this was going to happen to me when I started, and getting to this moment was the best. I have no complaints and I can't ask for more.
"We won the Copa America [in 2021] and the World Cup, there's nothing left."
As well as producing several outstanding performances, Messi made headlines for taking on a more vocal role as Argentina's leader in Qatar.
The Paris Saint-Germain star memorably celebrated a quarter-final goal against the Netherlands in front of Louis van Gaal before describing him as "disrespectful" in a post-match interview, while he also called striker Wout Weghorst a "fool" after the same game.
Messi admits he is not proud of some of his behaviour at the tournament, adding: "I knew what Van Gaal had said but it [the celebration] happened on the spur of the moment.
"I didn't like what I did, I didn't like what happened after. These are moments of nervousness and everything happens very quickly."
Tottenham poised to announce Ange Postecoglou as their new manager
Tottenham are expected to announce Ange Postecoglou as their new manager after reports on Monday claimed the Celtic boss has agreed a two-year deal.
The 57-year-old Australian’s pending appointment will end Spurs’ long search for a permanent replacement for Antonio Conte, who they sacked in March.
Cristian Stellini and Ryan Mason had respective spells in temporary charge as the London club failed to qualify for European football next season for the first time since 2009-10.
Postecoglou told Celtic principal shareholder Dermot Desmond on Saturday night of his decision to leave the Glasgow club and has now agreed a deal in principle with Spurs, with the option to extend.
Former Australia head coach Postecoglou admitted on Saturday, after Celtic’s Scottish FA Cup final win over Inverness had secured them the domestic treble, that his celebrations would soon be disrupted.
Neither club have commented but reports claim an announcement will be made when the finer details of the contract have been finalised.
When repeatedly pressed on his future after Celtic’s 3-1 Hampden win over Inverness on Saturday, Postecoglou said: “I anticipate enjoying this moment for the next 24-48 hours, as long as I can, before someone drags me away and takes my attention away from enjoying something that’s been hard-earned.
“The reality is, there’s probably players in that dressing room who won’t be here next year. That’s the nature of football.”
Postecoglou has won five domestic trophies out of a possible six after arriving from Yokohama F Marinos in 2021 and was linked with numerous Premier League clubs throughout this season.
He became a hero with the Celtic support, not just for resuming their success after a barren season, but also for implementing an attacking style of play and his connection with the fans.
Postecoglou, due to go on a family holiday on Tuesday, will now swap Glasgow for another rebuild job at Spurs.
Former Hoops manager Brendan Rodgers has emerged as an unlikely favourite to succeed Postecoglou at Celtic, four years after leaving the club mid-season to take over at Leicester.
Assistant manager John Kennedy is also high up the list but reports claim Postecoglou hopes to take the former Celtic defender to Tottenham.
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.”
Birmingham investment approved by EFL
The EFL has approved Tom Wagner’s imminent investment in Birmingham.
The American financier and his company, Knighthead Capital Management, has agreed to purchase a 45 per cent stake in Blues under Shelby Companies Limited.
Birmingham and Wagner still need the Hong Kong Stock Exchange to confirm the deal before it is officially completed with the club’s parent company, Birmingham Sports Holdings Limited, having been looking for investment.
A club statement read: “The English Football League (EFL) has today approved the acquisition of 45 per cent in the Club by Shelby Companies Limited and is now awaiting approval in accordance with the rules of Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
“This exciting announcement comes after the exchange of two signed Sale and Purchase Agreements (SPA) on Sunday, 7 May.
“Shelby Companies Limited is managed by American financier, Tom Wagner, who was in attendance at Blues’ final game of the 2022/23 Sky Bet Championship season against Sheffield United.”
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