Sports
Messi Says He Feels Much Better And Hopes To Play In Tokyo After A PR Disaster In Hong Kong
TOKYO — Lionel Messi will play in a friendly match between Inter Miami and Japanese club Vissel Kobe in Tokyo on Wednesday.
And don’t expect another public relations nightmare like the one on Sunday, when Argentina’s World Cup-winning captain remained on the bench for the whole match against a team from the Hong Kong league, infuriating thousands of fans who demanded refunds.
Teammate Luis Suarez, another huge star at Miami, sat on the bench.
Messi Says He Feels Much Better And Hopes To Play In Tokyo After A PR Disaster In Hong Kong
Messi appeared at a five-star Tokyo hotel on Tuesday for his second press conference since joining Miami on June 7 and his first since August 17. He sat alone on a stool on stage, wearing a pink warm-up jacket and displaying some humility.
He was under pressure from local Japanese sponsors, especially Vissel Kobe, where his former Barcelona teammate Andres Iniesta became a Japanese fan favourite before departing last year.
“The truth is that I feel very good compared to a few days ago,” Messi stated in Spanish. “And depending on how the training goes. And I’m still not sure if I’ll be able to. But I feel much better now, and I really want to accomplish it.
Messi trained later Tuesday in suburban Tokyo and appeared to be in good shape, performing drills and moving fluidly at a Japan Football Association practice facility. He declined to talk to reporters after that.
Messi tried to explain to Hong Kong fans that he couldn’t play with a groyne injury. Some suggested he could have merely trotted around for a few minutes, which would have satisfied supporters in a game with no meaning other than its promotional value.
“The truth is that it was bad luck that I couldn’t (play) on the day of the Hong Kong match,” Messi remarked. He said, “Discomfort continued, and it was very difficult for me to play.”
Messi Says He Feels Much Better And Hopes To Play In Tokyo After A PR Disaster In Hong Kong
“Unfortunately, in football, things may happen in any game, and we may sustain an injury. It’s a pity because I always want to participate and be present, especially at big events where we travel so far, and people are enthusiastic to witness our matches.
Inter Miami’s global tour has been underwhelming as the team attempts to develop a brand around senior players Messi and Suarez. Inter Miami has only won once in five games spanning El Salvador, Dallas, Saudi Arabia, and Hong Kong, with a total score of 12-7.
The Asian tour concludes on Wednesday at Tokyo’s National Stadium.
Mark Conrad, a law, ethics, and sports business professor at Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business, reminded spectators that a ticket to a game does not ensure a player’s presence.
“While it may be true that many fans purchased tickets with the hope of seeing Messi, the ticket is to watch the match, not a specific player — unless there is a condition that says otherwise,” Conrad said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Messi Says He Feels Much Better And Hopes To Play In Tokyo After A PR Disaster In Hong Kong
“While it is likely true that the pricing and the interest was in large part due to Messi’s participation, his failure to play does not generally constitute a breach of contract.”
Messi stated that he wants to return to Hong Kong and play.
“I hope we can return, and we can play another game, and I can be present,” he said. “I do this whenever I can. But the reality is, it is unfortunate that I was unable to participate.”
SOURCE – (AP)
Sports
The Utah Hockey Club’s Net Scores The Opening Goal.
(VOR News) – The Utah Hockey Club did not begin the season in the manner that they had planned to, despite the fact that they were playing their first game of the preseason on the ice.
The first goal that they scored at the beginning of the season was not the way that they had anticipated the season to begin.
Des Moines, Iowa, which is located in the state of Iowa, was the location of the first game played by the organisation that was once known as the Arizona Coyotes.
Specifically, the game will take place in the state of Iowa. Specifically, the game was developed in the state of Iowa, which was also the location where it was manufactured. The St. Louis Blues, who were the team that was competing for the championship.
We represented Utah in this particular game.
The penalty call was delayed, which resulted in Utah being required to remove their custodian in order to make room for an additional attacker. This was done in order to provide space for the additional attacker.
It was necessary to do this step in order to clear space for the attacker to move about a bit. Because of this, St. Louis was able to take the lead in the game with a score of 1-0 at the beginning of the second quarter.
This allowed them to gain control of the game. As the puck made its way down the ice and into the empty net of the opposition, the winger for Utah, Dylan Guenther, was unable to gain hold of it at the point, and he was also unable to catch up to it in time while it was falling. The disaster took place at this particular instant in time, which was the ideal time for it to take place that it did.
A defenseman with the Blues named Anton Malmstrom was given official credit for scoring the goal, and St. Louis “congratulated” Utah on scoring its first goal in the history of the team.
Malmstrom was given credit for Utah Scoring the goal.
The individual who was identified as the player who scored the goal was Malmstrom. It has been determined that Malmstrom is the individual who was responsible for scoring the goal. At the conclusion of the official investigation, it was determined that Malmstrom was the individual who was responsible for scoring the goal.
On the flip side, it would appear that yet another case of trolling was directed at the Blues. After the actual opening goal for Utah, which was scored by Michael Carcone a little more than six minutes later, Kevin Connauton added another goal later in the quarter to bring the score to a draw.
This brought the score to a tie. As a consequence of this, the score stayed tied. As a consequence of this turn of events, the score ended up being something like 2-2.
Guenther also made atonement for his prior transgressions by scoring a power-play marker that put Utah in the lead by a score of 3-2. This was a significant accomplishment for Guenther. As a consequence for his earlier misdeeds, Guenther was given this sentence.
Due to the fact that this achievement was achieved, Utah is currently in the position of being in the lead. It was on Friday that a signing took place, which ultimately led to the extension of Guenther’s contract for an additional eight years into the future. We have completed this extension.
Carcone scored his second goal of the game into an empty net, this time into the Blues’ net, during the final minute of the game. This would be his second goal of the game. Ultimately, this goal was the deciding factor in Utah’s victory, which was officially recorded as a 5-3 score.
It was generally agreed that Carcone’s goal was the one that clinched the victory. The final goal of the contest was scored by Carcone, who scored the game’s decisive goal. Utah was able to win the game and take home the victory as a result of Carcone’s goal, which was the goal that ultimately decided the outcome of the game.
However, despite the fact that the situation had already beyond the point of no return, the social administrator for the Blues was still able to successfully extract the last laugh from it. His efforts were successful.
SOURCE: SN
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Caitlin Clark Struggles In WNBA Postseason Debut As Indiana Drops Playoff Opener To Connecticut
No Panic for Patrick Mahomes and The Chiefs After Another Quiet Travis Kelce game.
Sports
Caitlin Clark Struggles In WNBA Postseason Debut As Indiana Drops Playoff Opener To Connecticut
Uncasville, Connecticut Caitlin Clark had a tough playoff debut, ending up with a black eye after being jabbed in it by accident early on.
The Indiana Fever’s star rookie missed 10 of her first 11 attempts before scoring 11 points and eight assists in the team’s 93-69 loss against the Connecticut Sun on Sunday.
The AP Rookie of the Year refused to use the early first-quarter eye-poke to justify her poor performance.
Caitlin Clark Struggles In WNBA Postseason Debut As Indiana Drops Playoff Opener To Connecticut
“Got me pretty good in the eye; I don’t think it affected me,” remarked the woman. “I felt I had excellent shots, but they didn’t go down. It is a difficult moment for it to happen. I thought I had gotten some great looks. You usually hit three wide open threes in the first half.”
Clark’s shooting woes persisted early in the third quarter, prompting the Fever to seek a timeout. In frustration, the young star smacked a chair onto the bench. That appeared to get her going a bit, as she came out and made her next three shots. Unfortunately for Indiana, Connecticut guard Marina Mabrey got hot, scoring 11 of her 27 points in the third quarter, and the Fever never recovered.
“My shot felt like it was right there,” said Clark, who went 4 for 17 from the field and missed 11 of 13 3-pointers. “It’s quite irritating as a shooter when it won’t go down for you. That’s what stinks about it. We were right there, and I believe we cut it to eight, but they came back down and hit a three on us.”
The Sun changed up their defensive strategy in terms of who was guarding Clark. DeWanna Bonner, who stands 6-foot-4, drew the assignment a lot.
“I took on the challenge, next game she’ll come out firing,” Bonner told me.
Clark will get another chance Wednesday in Game 2, with the hope of sending the series back to Indiana for a crucial third game on Friday.
The WNBA’s single-season assist leader made her regular-season debut in Connecticut in May. She struggled in that game as well, missing ten of her fifteen attempts.
Caitlin Clark Struggles In WNBA Postseason Debut As Indiana Drops Playoff Opener To Connecticut
Even though this was an away game, as they had been much of the season, the Fever had a sizable fan base in Connecticut. The sellout crowd seemed to be fairly evenly split, cheering on almost everything positive Clark and Indiana did.
“Caitlin has a lot of fans. “She’s amazing,” Mabrey stated. “They can come see whoever they want to come see, but at the end of day we’re here to win a championship.”
SOURCE | AP
Sports
No Panic for Patrick Mahomes and The Chiefs After Another Quiet Travis Kelce game.
(VOR News) – Nine times in the passing game was Travis Kelce, a tight end with the Kansas City Chiefs, targeted when he debuted in the 2023 season.
He did, however, only finish with four receptions for 26 yards and a touchdown overall. He responded the next week with seven receptions for 69 yards, the Chiefs adding another score to his record and thus allaying some of the worries of some who were on the sidelines looking in.
Kelce’s third consecutive week of poor performance marked the end of his third game of the 2024–25 season.
Two days before the year ended, this Chiefs event occurred.
Although his four receptions and thirty yards are all season highs, if they had been attained concurrently they would have been among his worst efforts from the previous season.
Once more on Sunday’s triumph over the Atlanta Falcons, a sluggish effort from the offense was evident; Kelce was not an exception to this rule. While this is the case, quarterback for Chiefs Patrick Mahomes thinks the most important symbol of respect is Kelce’s receiving less than a month away from his 35th birthday.
“I mean it’s crazy since teams are still… the respect factor Travis has is just unreal,” Mahomes said to reporters. “It is well-deserved, but we are calling a lot of plays for Travis, and it seems like just two or three people are going to him,” the spokesman added. He understands this clearly.
His desire to win at the end of the day is, in my view, the most admirable trait about him; he is not simply interested in having an impact on the game. I shall give it top attention in the future to keep giving him the ball whenever he is there and on the pitch.
At the conclusion of Week 3, Kelce ranked second only to Rashee Rice in terms of targets, receptions, and yards by the pass among all Chiefs pass catchers. This shows Kelce has made notable advancements on the right path. The other man merely had 12 receptions and 14 targets; Rice had 14 targets and 12 receptions for 110 yards.
Their differences were quite considerable. As of right now this season, three games have been played; Kelce has not yet found the end zone. He had two outstanding catches in the second half.
One was a third-quarter 17-yard gain that put the Chiefs in red zone.
The head coach and Mahomes both expressed hope that Kelce would finally reach his big-time goals after the weekend’s victory. Although this is the new normal for one of the league’s best tight ends, nobody seemed to be worried about it.
This is still the case after a week; yet, the longer Chiefs games pass without a vintage Kelce effort – or anything that even loosely resembles one – the more attention will be paid to his specific stats.
Though he has lost a lot of agility compared to his prime, Kelce is still able to get open. Besides, his head is still clear, hence he is obviously capable of writing correctly.
For a different set of factors, he is not getting targets or catches inside the rhythm of the offensive, though. Maybe we could have opened that window if our sample size had been larger.
Mahomes believes that everything else will take care of itself if other guys start (or, in Rice’s case, keep going) and Kelce keeps on going.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes stated, “The more plays Rashee makes, the more effectively we can run the football, which allows us to involve (Xavier) Worthy, thereby increasing Travis’s opportunities to be open.” “Individuals are genuinely concerned about attempting to remove him, which is facilitating opportunities for other players.”
SOUREC: SI
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