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Marlins rookie Maximo Acosta had a moment he'll never forget in Miami's win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday night and making things all the more special was that his family was in the crowd to witness it firsthand.

Acosta, the No. 25-ranked prospect in the Marlins' organization, not only got his first career hit in the victory but he did in style, sending a 1-0 pitch in the bottom of the sixth inning well over the wall in straightaway center field.

Acosta's family was shown on the broadcast going nuts in celebration of his incredible achievement as he circled the bases.

This was a pretty awesome scene at LoanDepot Park:

Acosta had gone hitless in his first eight at-bats in the majors before crushing that home run.

What a night for the Acostas.

It is no secret that the summer transfer window did not end in the way that Celtic or their supporters wanted it to, particularly on deadline day last week.

Sebastian Tounekti was the only signing on deadline day, as the Hoops failed to sign any strikers, and the club published a lengthy statement attempting to explain their failings a few days later.

In July, during pre-season, Brendan Rodgers explained that the club needed to bring in more quality in the attacking areas of the pitch because of the players sold this year.

The Celtic manager said: “I think it’s bringing goals to the squad. Especially when you score four goals, it seems like you’re okay. But we lost an important player in Kyogo [Furuhashi] in January. He brought us a lot of goals. We lost Nicolas Kuhn. He brought us a lot of goals. Matt O’Riley even last summer.”

On top of that, the Scottish Premiership champions also allowed Adam Idah to join Swansea on deadline day, which meant that the club had allowed Idah and Kyogo to leave in back-to-back windows without investing in a significant signing to replace them.

Of course, Kelechi Iheanacho then came through the door on a free transfer the day after deadline day, but the lack of quality in the number nine role is a concern.

Why losing Kyogo Furuhashi was a blow for Celtic

It is fair to say that Kyogo was not at the very best of his game when the Hoops decided to sell him to Ligue 1 side Rennes for a fee of £10m towards the end of the January transfer window.

The Japan international only scored ten goals from 13.62 xG in the Premiership during the first half of the season, per FotMob, which shows that he had been incredibly wasteful in front of goal up to that point.

Bringing in £10m for a 30-year-old striker with that return in the Premiership was not a bad deal on paper, by any means, but it is the lack of reaction to that sale that has ultimately made it a blow.

Kyogo, for all of his faults at the end of his time at the club, was almost a guaranteed goalscorer. He scored 85 goals in 165 matches for the Hoops and hit double figures for goals in all four of his Premiership campaigns, per Transfermarkt.

The Japanese marksman, even though his finishing powers waned, knew how to score goals on a regular basis in Scotland, and Celtic are currently struggling for goals.

As you can see in the table above, Johnny Kenny is the only striker to have scored a goal for Celtic after four matches in the Premiership this season, whilst the Hoops also failed to score in two qualifying games against Kairat.

It is now up to Iheanacho, who only scored four goals in 26 matches in the 2024/25 campaign, per Sofascore, to step up and provide the goals that Rodgers’ side have lacked.

Chalkboard

Football FanCast’s Chalkboard series presents a tactical discussion from around the global game.

Meanwhile, Celtic appear to be brewing their next version of Kyogo Furuhashi in Japan international Daizen Maeda, and not in a positive way.

Why Daizen Maeda is on his way to becoming the new Kyogo Furuhashi

As aforementioned, Kyogo’s finishing left a lot to be desired in his last six months at the club before he completed a January move away from Parkhead at the start of this year.

Maeda is currently in danger of following that same path after an underwhelming start to the 2025/26 campaign and some worrying quotes about his future in Glasgow.

Speaking after the window closed, the forward said: “I received an offer. I had been telling the club that I wanted to take the next step, but Celtic hadn’t been able to strengthen their squad properly, so in the end they told me they couldn’t let me go. Personally, I had agreed, so I wanted to take on the challenge. The national team also delayed my joining, and I asked Celtic until the last day, but it didn’t happen.”

These quotes, particularly the one about wanting to take the next step, suggest that Maeda is not planning to stay at Parkhead for many more years, which now puts his short-term future in doubt.

Now that clubs know that he wants to take that next step in his career, the January transfer window may present the Hoops with opportunities to cash in on him, just like it did with Kyogo at the start of this year.

Maeda won the Premiership Player of the Year award last season for his terrific performances in the division. He racked up 16 goals from 12.76 xG, per FotMob, which shows that he was lethal in front of goal.

However, the Japan international has failed to score in four appearances in the league so far this season, missing two ‘big chances’, and Rodgers will be hoping that he is not following in Kyogo’s footsteps.

As you can see in the table above, Kyogo’s incredible 27-goal haul in the 2022/23 Premiership season turned out to be more of a flash in the pan, as he significantly underperformed his xG and only scored 24 goals in the next two campaigns combined.

Maeda may not have scored 27 last season for the Scottish giants, but he is already in danger of his 16-goal haul looking like a flash in the pan after a slow start to the season in front of goal.

The Japanese star was hailed as “phenomenal” by interim Rangers boss Barry Ferguson, who also described the forward as being “built like a brick”, but he has not looked at his phenomenal best so far this term.

Hopefully, Maeda can get to his best to avoid becoming the next Kyogo by being another striker whose finishing form falls off a cliff after an impressive season.

Isak thinks he's "fearless": Celtic are now brewing their next Matt O'Riley

Celtic are brewing their next Matt O’Riley with this versatile attacking star at Parkhead.

By
Dan Emery

Sep 11, 2025

On top of that, Rodgers and the supporters will also be hoping that he does not become the next Kyogo by moving on from Parkhead in the upcoming January window.

Kieran Elliott had earlier taken a six-wicket haul of his own as the home side were bundled out for 93

AAP18-Feb-2025Paceman Brendan Doggett sparked a stunning South Australian comeback against Tasmania as 20 wickets tumbled on day one of their Sheffield Shield clash.Shield leaders SA were skittled for 98 at Adelaide Oval on Tuesday with Tasmanian quick Kieran Elliott bagging a career-best six wicket haul.Related

• Kuhnemann's action to be tested despite thumb injury

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• Konstas under the microscope as Boland, Davies shine

Doggett then shredded Tasmania, taking 6 for 40 as the visitors crashed to 101 all out. He captured five of the initial six Tasmania wickets on a pitch offering considerable movement off the seam.Just three Tasmanians reached double-figures with new Test allrounder Beau Webster top-scoring with 28.Doggett started his spree by dismissing former SA opener Jake Weatherald for a golden duck when the left-hander edged to wicketkeeper Harry Nielsen. Two more batters perished in identical fashion before the end of the fourth over with Tim Ward and Jordan Silk also caught behind off a rampant Doggett.Kieran Elliott continued his stunning form with six wickets•Getty Images

Liam Scott chipped in with the wicket of Doran – the left-hander pulled a short delivery to midwicket where Lloyd Pope plucked a screamer of a one-handed catch.Doggett then returned to take another two consecutive wickets including Hobart Hurricances’ BBL hero Mitchell Owen for a second-ball duck.Webster launched a counter-attack before legspinner Pope helped clean up the tail and ensure opening-day honours were shared.Earlier, SA’s batsmen collapsed amid precision seam bowling from Elliott and Gabe Bell. Elliott took 6 for 23, the best return in first-class cricket for the Victorian born 29-year-old, to follow his 10-wicket match haul against Victoria in the previous round.SA lost 7 for 17 in the middle session and only three batters reached double-figures – Jason Sangha, Conor McInerney and captain Nathan McSweeney.

Liverpool have agreed a deal to sign Giorgi Mamardashvili, with the Valencia goalkeeper arriving in 2025.

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• Georgian starred at Euro 2024
• 23-year-old will arrive in 2025
• Becomes Arne Slot's first signing

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Liverpool have reached an agreement to sign Giorgi Mamardashvili from Valencia, with the goalkeeper set to spend the 2024-25 season with the La Liga club before arriving at Anfield ahead of the 2025-26 campaign.

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  Mamardashvili earned widespread attention for his performances for Georgia at Euro 2024, with his display in the 1-1 draw against Czechia a particular standout. Liverpool's desire to sign a new goalkeeper this summer was increased by Saudi interest in current number one Alisson, though the Brazilian eventually rejected a proposal.

• DID YOU KNOW?

  Mamardashvili has been imperious since joining Valencia from Dinamo Tbilisi in 2021, keeping 31 clean sheets in 102 appearances. Liverpool have reportedly paid £29 million (€34m/$38m) for the shot-stopper.

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  WHAT NEXT FOR MAMARDASHVILI

  The stopper will be looking to put together a strong season for Valencia in the hopes of providing Alisson with a genuine threat to the No.1 spot at Anfield upon his arrival next year.

The outgoing captain says ‘there’s one less thing to worry about’ now

Mohammad Isam07-Mar-2020In his last ODI as captain of Bangladesh, Mashrafe Mortaza wanted to make sure he did not slip up even once, being aware that players are “vulnerable” to mistakes when they are ending a stint. Mortaza signed off as captain in style, leading Bangladesh to their 50th win under him in ODIs with a 3-0 whitewash over Zimbabwe in Sylhet. After Liton Das and Tamim Iqbal amassed big hundreds, Mortaza provided the first breakthrough in Bangladesh’s defence of 322 and remained in control of his emotions throughout the game.At one point he even allowed Mustafizur Rahman to keep a slip in the dying stages of the game, resulting in a catch the next ball. His open faith in his players, young and old, was one of the hallmarks of his captaincy.After the game ended, Iqbal picked him up on his shoulders for a lap of honour. The Bangladesh players wore special jerseys with his name and number at the back, and “thank you captain” written in the front. They presented him with a special edition jersey as well as a commemorative plaque. There are also strong rumours that Mortaza’s jersey may be retired by the BCB soon.After all the formalities, Mortaza cut a relaxed figure in the press conference, particularly candid when speaking about his experience as one of the most important figures in Bangladesh, for more than five years.”Now I am feeling relaxed,” he said. “There’s one less thing to worry about. It was a big responsibility. Usually at this time, some feel good some feel bad. I have mixed feelings too. To be honest, I am happy that I could finish well as a captain. I also ended on a win.”Our main focus was winning the game. We planned and thought about the match. We knew that everything would have been spoiled had we lost. We had a big score but I didn’t want to make a mistake today. When a person announces that something has ended, he is vulnerable to making mistakes. He knows there’s no one to answer to afterwards. I was really focused on not making any mistakes. Everyone assumed that this was a straightforward win, but I wanted to finish well.”Mortaza took four wickets in the three ODIs against Zimbabwe, a stark improvement from his last campaign – the 2019 World Cup – when he took just one wicket in 56 overs across eight matches. He said that wickets have obviously given him some confidence, and he wants to keep performing.Raton Gomes/BCB

“I had a really bad World Cup, and the team struggled too,” he said. “I have turned around a bit. It is about time that I regained the confidence. Bowlers get confidence through wickets, notwithstanding how we bowl.”I have to perform. It will be up to the selectors. A player has to play well, and then he becomes the captain, which itself is a huge pressure. But now as a player, I have a lot of time to think about myself which will help me a lot.”Mortaza downplayed his performance as a captain and said that a Bangladesh captain has to deal with a lot more off-the-field issues with players. “I never evaluated myself, I think I am an average captain,” he said. “I have never given it any thought. For a captain in Bangladesh, though, there’s a lot more work off the field with players. Once you are in the field, there isn’t as much to do.”But players are disturbed in many ways: personal problems, being out of form, not going on well with the coach, fitness problems. Everyone has a different struggle. The captain has to be with the player during those times. The captain has to take responsibility of the whole team, regardless of the team’s result.”Mortaza also reiterated that a senior player should be given the ODI captaincy now, as he would have the prerequisite experience to handle high-pressure situations on and off the field.”Captaincy was a big responsibility but whoever comes in next, he has to be three times more sensible and thoughtful. It will be easy when he wins, but when you lose there is a lot of pressure from the media, board and spectators.”I have done it for six years, so I feel relaxed now. Which is why I said that one of the senior cricketers should take over the captaincy. They can face the media, and have played for a long time. They can better handle pressure.”Mortaza was hopeful that Bangladesh will keep improving beyond his stint as the ODI captain. He repeated what he had said at his last press conference in the 2019 World Cup, that with many of the current young players reaching a peak in four years time, Bangladesh could make it to the last four of the next World Cup.”It is hard to say but I believe Bangladesh will do well in the 2023 World Cup. I think I said it in the last press conference in England, after the Pakistan game, that we will play in the semi-final of the next World Cup. Most of the young players will have the peak of their career during that time, so there’s no reason that we cannot reach that far in Asia.”

The series was to be played in June as part of the World Test Championship cycle

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Apr-2020The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and Cricket Australia (CA) have mutually agreed to postpone the two-Test series that was scheduled for June, due to the persisting Covid-19 threat. The boards took the decision with the welfare of their players and communities in mind, and will work together to find a suitable date to play the series once the situation becomes clearer.The series was to be played between June 11 and June 23 in Chattogram and Dhaka, and is part of the World Test Championship (WTC) cycle. It becomes the third WTC series to affected after the Sri Lanka-England series scheduled for March, and the second Test of Bangladesh’s staggered tour of Pakistan, which was scheduled to begin on April 5.BCB CEO Nizam Uddin Chowdhury said, “This is understandably disappointing for players and fans of both sides. However, in the current global scenario of the Covid-19 outbreak and considering the nature of the health emergency, the BCB and CA are in agreement that this is the most sensible and practical decision. We hope that the situation will improve soon and we are able to hold this series at a convenient time in the near future. To that end, the BCB will continue to work closely with CA with whom we share a history of support and cooperation.”The series is among two WTC series that are scheduled for June, with England scheduled to host West Indies around the same time. It was also to be Australia’s first visit to Bangladesh since their 1-1 series draw in 2017 – and, in fact, their first meeting in a bilateral setting since that one. Australia had, in 2018, called off hosting Bangladesh for two Tests and three ODIs because broadcasters were understood to have been uninterested in televising the series in the middle of the football season.”Postponing the tour is regrettable,” CA chief Kevin Roberts said through a statement, “but I would like to thank the Bangladesh Cricket Board for the open, honest and responsible discussions that led us to this mutually-agreed position. The health of our people and communities is the number one priority for both Boards and that is reflected in the action we have taken in postponing the two Test matches. As we know, the global cricket calendar is very busy but we will do everything we can to honour our commitment to Bangladesh and will continue to work with the BCB on an agreed date.”Australia are currently second in the WTC table with 296 points, having won two of their three series, while Bangladesh sit at the bottom, in ninth place with no points after one completed series.

The World Series opens Friday with an updated version of in play, the role of Roy Hobbs, the mysterious slugger-pitcher from somewhere in Middle America, being reprised by a muscular manchild from Japan. The mythic contours of the game—baseball as our spiritual sports obsession—have rarely been more in evidence than in the chimerical (one could almost say comical) versatility of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani, who is scheduled to get at least one pitching start against the Toronto Blue Jays and expected to blast at least one seamed orb out of the confines of either Dodger Stadium or the Rogers Centre.

, from 1984, was just one of five baseball films—all successful and well-executed in their own ways—that emerged from the diamond-deep decade of the 1980s. Its mythic cousin is (1989), whose rewatches still have grown men weeping at the sight of long-dead ballplayers emerging from cornfields looking for a game of catch. (1988) and (1989) were somewhat polar opposites, the former a John Sayles-directed account (fairly accurate) of the World Series scandal of 1919, the latter a raucous comedy with a cover of the Troggs’ “Wild Thing” as its musical heartbeat and the voice of the immortal Bob Uecker intoning “Just a bit outside” after a pitch from Charlie Sheen’s character threatened to leave the zip code.

But , from 1988, was the best of the lot, smartly touching all the bases of the others—myth, low locker-room humor, superstition, baseball lore—and covering them with a layer of grit thanks to writer-director Ron Shelton, who lived the minor league life for five years, and, as a middle infielder for the Class A Stockton Ports, co-led the California League with 29 doubles in 1969. You can look it up.

And now has resurfaced as both a musical and a meta enterprise, trying to make it to The Show, in this case Broadway, just as Shelton’s protagonists were doing back in Durham, North Carolina. is in a one-month run at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Milburn, N.J., a stop-off for shows that sometimes make it to the Great White Way. (The final performance is Nov. 2, a day after a scheduled Game 7 of the World Series.) The 80-year-old Shelton could be resting comfortably on the laurels (and royalties) of the movie version, as well as (1992) and (1996), among other films and shows he either wrote, directed or did both. But Shelton is no lollygagger. You can’t take the minor league ethos out of the man, the eternal battle to strive and succeed, to get to The Show, just as his fictional creations, Crash Davis and Eby Calvin “Nuke” LaLoosh, were doing in the movie version of .

”I never dreamed that 37 years after the movie, I’d be working on something related to ,” Shelton said by Zoom from an apartment near Los Angeles. (He and his wife, the actress Lolita Davidovich, lost their home in the Palisades Fire in January.) “But it’s an honor. There is something, of course, in the idea that baseball is at the heart of America, this collective Church of Baseball, [the title of both a song from the musical and a book Shelton wrote about getting to the screen] something that makes it timeless, mythic.”

Shelton has a perfect double-play partner in the person of Susan Werner, a multi-talented singer-songwriter (and guitar player and pianist) who wrote the music and lyrics. Werner’s fervid cult following does not come from baseball, but the producers reached out to her because she weaves a story with virtually every song she writes going back to her small-venue roots in the early 1990s. She is perfect for in that she’s a major league talent, who, in terms of general name recognition, still plays in the minors.

Plus, she has kind of background. Growing up on a farm in Iowa, “I was the girl throwing the tennis ball against the base of the barn,” says Werner. “I played softball with my cousins in the cornfield. It was about as wholesome as you could get, and when this opportunity came along it just felt to me like big, sloppy, honest American fun. It felt .”

From time to time Werner would reach out to Shelton for a brief outline she needed to complete a song. “I would ask Ron, ‘Hey, what would Nuke say in this situation,’ and I’d get back an email with language so specific that it was easy to transform it into lyrics,” says Werner. But much of the baseball namechecking came from her own knowledge of the game. “And by the end of the first week he’s giving in,” sings Annie Savoy, the Susan Sarandon character played charmingly in the musical by theater veteran Carmen (no relation to John) Cusack, “and by the end of September he’s Tony Gwynn.”

Several tweaks and updates keep the material fresh, such as Annie now embracing analytics and Bill James, along with Emily Dickinson, William Blake and in-season coitus. Still, making it to Broadway will be no base on balls in the park. The success of the movie ( made about $50 million on a budget of about $9 million) will help, of course, as will some of its still-familiar touchstones. (Alas, the bathtub scene between Annie and Crash is gone.) And if it won’t be an easy ride, well, Shelton is accustomed to bumpy ones, aside from those he took on buses as a minor league infielder trying to get promoted in an organization with players like Brooks Robinson, Davey Johnson, Mark Belanger and Bobby Grich in front of him. If there’s a villain in it’s The Organization, which strangles the dreams of players like Crash while wringing everything it can get out of them, but Shelton has mostly fond memories of the Orioles of the late 1960s. (“The best organization in baseball,” he says.) It took years off his life to get made and it never would’ve reached the screen, says Shelton, had Kevin Costner not been a smash in , which convinced Orion Studios that Costner, as Crash, could carry a movie. That’s Hollywood: A film about a Russian spy and a D.C. murder greenlights a film about minor league baseball.

The best thing that Durham has going for it is a certain timeless quality. If it ever leans toward sentimentality, there is Crash to say “Shut up” when the batboy tells him to get a hit. And if it ever gets too cynical, there is coach Larry Hockett visiting the mound to remind everyone that “Candlesticks always make a nice gift,” a moment preserved, needless to say, in the musical.

Back in the real world, the 2025 World Series may well be defined by the Ruthian presence of Ohtani, who need only tear the cover off a ball to reach the mythical status of Roy Hobbs. But we can also expect those other moments that tie us to the past. Photos and videos of 3-year-old Vladimir Guerrero Jr., now the Blue Jays starting first baseman, for example, playing ball with his Hall of Fame father. Or comparisons of Toronto’s DH/outfielder George Springer’s hitting heroics to those of Joe Carter Jr., who 32 Octobers past sent a pitch from Philadelphia’s Mitch “Wild Thing” Williams into the left field bleachers, a three-run walkoff dinger that gave the Blue Jays their second straight World Series title.

They haven’t been back since and now they’re here, staring into the smiling face and terrifying batting stance and pitching arm of Ohtani. We like the idea of baseball as a continuum, a preserver of our history, and here’s hoping that , with its pitch-perfect sense of the sublime and the ridiculous, can make it to The Show.

Chelsea are one of the most interesting teams in the Premier League at the moment, as their strategy is markedly different from that of their rivals in the traditional 'big six.'

The decision to spend enormous sums of money on highly-rated but relatively unproven youngsters is an incredibly high-risk move, and while it might still come good in the long term, it's not led to pleasant viewing for the fans this season.

The likes of Enzo Fernández, Cole Palmer, Mykhailo Mudryk and Moises Caicedo all arrived at the club with hefty price tags, and aside from Palmer, it would be hard to argue that any of them have lived up to their potential as of yet.

This situation is made all the more puzzling by the club's decision to sell so many of their talented youngsters in the past, such as Fikayo Tomori, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Marc Guehi.

However, there is one player the club released as a youngster that currently stands out as the worst decision of them all, especially as he's outperforming Caicedo this season and is now worth more.

Declan Rice's post-Chelsea career

Unsurprisingly, the player in question is former West Ham United captain and current Arsenal star Declan Rice.

The England international started his footballing journey with the west Londoners as a young boy, but at age 14, he was surprised with the news that his services were no longer wanted by the Blues, which Rice described as "extremely tough" to deal with as a youngster.

However, he was soon a part of West Ham's academy, and after working his way through the youth sides, he made his Premier League debut at 18 years old on 21 May 2017, against Burnley.

Just over three years later, with Mark Noble injured, David Moyes gave Rice the captain's armband in a league game for the first time, and he would wear it in 21 games the following season.

The Kingston upon Thames-born "controller", as talent scout Jacek Kulig described him, became the leading figure for the Irons as time went on, and by the time he finally left, he had made 245 appearances for the first team and helped them lift the Europa Conference League, leaving as a bonafide legend – even if some fans weren't best pleased with his choice of destination.

How Declan Rice compares to Moises Caicedo this season

When a player moves for as much money as Rice did in the summer – £105m – there is always a chance that they'll fail to live up to the expectations placed upon them, or worse still, flop altogether.

However, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who would describe the 24-year-old's move to the Gunners as anything other than a success, as in his 33 appearances so far this season, he has been immense in his defensive duties, and he has chipped in with four goals and five assists to boot.

In comparison, Caicedo, who cost around £115m, has been anonymous in attack as he has failed to score a single goal and has provided just a single assist in his 30 appearances for the Blues.

However, with neither player being signed for their attacking output, how do their underlying numbers compare this season? Does the Ecuadorian international come out on top regarding passing or defending?

Well, unfortunately for Mauricio Pochettino, his record-breaking signing comes out on top in just one metric, passing accuracy, and even then, it's by just 0.9%, which is likely due to his tendency to make fewer passes per game.

In contrast, Arsenal's "dominator", as Kulig described him, comes out on top in every other relevant metric, including progressive passes and carries, shot-creating actions, interceptions + tackles, clearances and aerial duels and he is less likely to miscontrol the ball or be dispossessed as well.

Rice's superior underlying numbers are also represented in his valuation, as CIES Football Observatory values the Englishman at €100m, or about £86m. In comparison, they value Caicedo at just €60m, which is about £51m – or about £64m less than what he cost the club.

Chelsea must regret selling £58m flop who's now outscoring Cole Palmer

The experienced forward has been on fire this season.

By
Jack Salveson Holmes

Feb 15, 2024

Ultimately, the former Brighton & Hove Albion ace may still come good for the Blues, but as things stand, it's hard to disagree with former Blues star Frank Lebouef, who described the club's decision to release the Englishman all those years ago as a "huge, huge mistake."

Lionel Messi has been left out of Argentina's squad for their World Cup qualifiers against Colombia and Chile.

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• Messi recuperating from ankle injury
• Argentina leave Inter Miami star out of squad
• Aiming to defend World Cup in north America

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Argentina have announced their squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Chile and Colombia and Messi has been omitted. The Inter Miami star damaged his ankle during the 2024 Copa America final and has not kicked a ball since; his recovery is being prioritised, as a result, by both club and country.

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  Argentina do have an abundance of attacking options; Alejandro Garnacho, Giuliano Simeone, Julian Alvarez, Lautaro Martinez and Valentin Castellanos will have to shoulder the burden of finding the back of the net for the world champions. Messi will instead focus on getting back to full fitness.

• DID YOU KNOW?

  Messi has already misssed the MLS All-Star game as well as Inter Miami's Leagues Cup defence. The Herons return to domestic action on August 24, against FC Cincinnati, but Messi has not yet returned to the training pitch.

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  WHAT NEXT?

  Argentina play Chile on September 6 before taking on Colombia on September 10 as they aim to qualify for the tournament in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Messi's side, of course, are aiming to secure back-to-back trophies.

Yash Rathod’s century set Mumbai a target of 406, before Vidarbha ended the day with three key wickets

Shashank Kishore20-Feb-2025Yash Rathod struck a superb 151, his fifth hundred this season, as Vidarbha set Mumbai 406 for a place in the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy final. Mumbai will be chasing history – the highest successful chase in the tournament’s history is 378 that Railways achieved against Tripura last season.But that job got that much tougher as they ended the day in Nagpur on 73 for 3, with Ajinkya Rahane, the captain, being dismissed in the last half hour. Shivam Dube, and not Suryakumar Yadav, came out to bat at No. 5 to join first-innings centurion Akash Anand. It wasn’t clear if Suryakumar was suffering from a niggle – he was off the field for the entire duration of Vidarbha’s batting innings.All three wickets fell to the left-arm spinners. Harsh Dubey, the season’s highest wicket-taker who surpassed the 60-wicket mark in the first innings, accounted for Mhatre and Lad, while Parth Rekhade, who triggered a mammoth collapse in the first innings with the wickets of Rahane, Suryakumar and Dube in the space of two overs, dismissed Rahane with one that kept low.But the story of Vidarbha’s day lay in how Rathod ground Mumbai’s bowling to construct his century, first with Akshay Wadkar and then with Rekhade. Rathod and Wadkar lifted a floundering innings from 56 for 4, adding 158 before Wadkar’s dismissal prior to lunch opened up the game again.Having dug in to make a half-century of 200 balls, Wadkar was out bowled off a beauty from Shams Mulani as he played down the wrong line to one that turned away sharply. Dubey and Darshan Nalkande soon fell to the spinners as it became clear the surface was now beginning to open up and aid spinners if they were prepared to bowl into the rough created at both ends.Not until the No. 10 was dismissed that Rathod looked to play a shot in anger – this partly stemmed from the confidence of having someone as accomplished as Rekhade, who was the No. 3 in the first innings, come in at No. 9. Rathod brought up his 150 shortly before being the last man out, by which time their lead crossed 400. Mulani finished with figures of 6 for 85 across 44 overs.Vidarbha quickly turned to their spinners with the new ball and Dubey got it to turn and kick off the rough, even as the odd ball kept low. This played a part in each of the three dismissals. All said, Anand, fresh off a century in the first innings, looked compact and showed a solid defence to finish unbeaten on 27, with Dube on 12 as Mumbai have to do something that has never been done before, on the final day, to try and gun for title No. 43.