World Cup notes: Messi among injured international stars | CBC Sports

With the World Cup set to kick off in about two weeks, we lined the most recent information concerning the Canadian workforce in yesterday’s e-newsletter. At this time, let’s examine in on a couple of of the opposite 47 international locations within the event, together with one thing that is angering followers in all places.

Canada is not the one workforce with damage considerations.

The largest story across the Canadian workforce proper now could be the standing of star captain Alphonso Davies, who hasn’t performed for Canada since tearing the ACL in his proper knee in March 2025 and is at the moment sidelined with a hamstring damage he suffered earlier this month together with his membership workforce, Bayern Munich. Davies is absent from Canada’s coaching camp in Charlotte, N.C., this week, and coach Jesse Marsch stated he would not count on his greatest participant to be prepared in time for Canada’s first World Cup match on June 12 in Toronto towards Bosnia and Herzegovina. Marsch believes Davies will return in some unspecified time in the future through the World Cup, however proper now nobody is aware of for certain.

This, in fact, is a horrible break for Canada. But it surely’s not the one nation holding its breath over an injured star.

The good Lionel Messi, who led Argentina to the World Cup title in 2022, is coping with a hamstring damage of his personal as he prepares for would might be his sixth look on soccer’s greatest stage. “The preliminary updates aren’t solely unhealthy,” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni stated after Messi took himself out within the second half of Inter Miami’s match on Sunday evening as a consequence of what the Main League Soccer workforce referred to as “muscle fatigue” in his left hamstring. “Now, we should wait to see how he evolves.”

Messi nonetheless deliberate to report back to Argentina’s coaching camp, however it’s unclear how a lot he’ll be capable of take part, and Scaloni didn’t count on him to play within the workforce’s pre-World Cup friendlies on June 6 and June 9 in the US. Argentina’s first World Cup match is on June 16 towards Algeria.

Argentina’s damage points additionally embrace goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez, who fractured his proper ring finger throughout warmups for final week’s Europa League last with Aston Villa. However that did not cease him from taking part in in his membership’s victory over Freiburg, and he is anticipated to be tremendous to play within the World Cup.

In Brazil, Neymar sat out his final three membership matches with a bruised proper calf. Although the 34-year-old star ahead downplayed the damage, he is thought of unlikely to play in Brazil’s two warmup video games forward of its World Cup opener on June 13 towards Morocco. Neymar, the Brazilian males’s nationwide workforce’s all-time main scorer, hasn’t performed for the five-time World Cup champions since tearing his ACL in 2023.

In Spain, 18-year-old Barcelona star Lamine Yamal is recovering from a hamstring damage that has stored him out since late April, although national-team coach Luis de la Fuente expects him to be prepared for his or her opener on June 15 towards Cape Verde. Yamal helped La Roja win the 2024 European Championship on the age of simply 16. His objective within the semifinals towards France made him the youngest scorer within the historical past of the event.

Iran will commute to its video games in the US.

There have been doubts about Iran’s participation within the World Cup since late February, when the U.S. joined Israel in army assaults on the nation. President Donald Trump stated in March that Iran was nonetheless welcome to play within the event, however advised it might be higher if the workforce stayed out of the U.S. “for their very own life and security.”

With Iran scheduled to play New Zealand in Los Angeles ​on June 15, Belgium in L.A. on June 21 and Egypt ⁠in Seattle on ⁠June 26, the top of Iran’s soccer federation had talks with FIFA about transferring these matches to co-host Mexico. Mexican President ‌Claudia Sheinbaum stated she was open to the concept, however FIFA caught to its unique schedule.

On Monday, FIFA confirmed that the Iranian workforce’s base could be moved from Arizona to the Mexican border ‌metropolis of Tijuana, and Sheinbaum stated on Monday that they will sleep in Mexico and journey to the U.S. on sport days after the U.S. refused to permit them to remain within the nation.

Ticket costs are insane.

This comes as no shock to anybody who’s seemed into attending a sporting occasion or live performance recently, however FIFA appears particularly decided to squeeze each greenback it might probably from the primary World Cup in North America since 1994. Whereas it is tough to pin down precise figures in immediately’s “dynamic” marketplace for tickets, a fast look on StubHub reveals the most cost effective seat for Canada’s opening match in Toronto will set you again greater than $1,000 Cdn, and higher seats are listed for over $6,000. Experiences of jacked-up prices for parking, public transit and even outside fan festivals have added to followers’ frustration at a time when “affordability” is a sizzling concern politically.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has tried to justify the prices as a perform of sky-high demand for a once-in-a-generation occasion within the strong North American leisure market. His group additionally not too long ago launched a small quantity of more-affordable tickets, however even that transfer backfired to some extent as followers complained a few lack of transparency within the promoting course of.

For extra on the World Cup, watch the most recent episode of Soccer North on the CBC Sports YouTube channel.