Argentina's Lionel Messi during a2018 World Cup qualifier.
Camera IconArgentina's Lionel Messi during a2018 World Cup qualifier. Credit: AFP

World Cup Scout: Lionel Messi hints at Argentina retirement again, Brazil finalise preparations

Staff writers, AP, AFPFOX SPORTS

LIONEL Messi could be set to quit Argentina again as he reveals how he fixed his problems with vomiting in game.

Plus Russia’s football doctor makes an interesting doping claim as Brazil finalise their World Cup preparations.

It’s World Cup Scout!

MESSI’S WORLD CUP THREAT TO ARGENTINA

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Leo Messi has already quit the national team once.

He could be set to do it a second time after telling TV show La Cornisa he could “give up” on Argentina if they don’t win the 2018 World Cup.

Messi is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, but the only acclaim missing from his CV is a major international tournament – an Olympic gold medal for the Under-23s aside.

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Argentina came agonisingly close in 2014, falling in the World Cup final to Germany and Messi also has claimed runner-up in three Copa Americas.

It was that runners-up finish in 2016 – where the 30-year-old missed a penalty in the shootout loss to Chile – that saw him immediately retire from international football.

He was convinced to change his mind just a week later, but told La Cornisa it could be an option if they fail in Russia.

Argentina's Lionel Messi.
Camera IconArgentina's Lionel Messi. Credit: AFP

“We feel that, if we won’t win the World Cup in Russia, the only way will be to give up the national team,” Messi said.

“I dream of winning the trophy in Russia. My wish is to live something similar to Brazil 2014. You can do everything OK and fail, like Argentina in Brazil.”

Messi also spoke to the Argentine TV show about how his change in diet helped end his run of vomiting during matches.

“I don’t know what I ate but I ate badly for many years,” Messi admitted.

“At 22, 23... [it was] chocolate, alfajores [biscuits], fizzy drinks.

“Now I eat well: fish, meat, vegetables, salads. Everything is organised and taken care of. Sometimes a bit of wine, but that’s not a problem.

“I really noticed the change when it came to vomiting. They said it could be a lot of things, eventually I changed and it didn’t happen anymore.”

Argentina's Lionel Messi.
Camera IconArgentina's Lionel Messi. Credit: AFP

BRAZIL FINALISE WORLD CUP PREPARATIONS

Brazil will play their final warm up game for the World Cup against Austria on June 10, a week before the five-time world champions take on Switzerland in their Group E opener.

The match will be played in Vienna at Ernst Happel Stadium, the same venue where both teams last met in a 2014 friendly, which Brazil won 2-1.

Brazil have further build-up games against World Cup host Russia (March 23), world champion Germany (March 27) and Croatia (June 3) ahead of the June 14-July 15 tournament, where they also meet Costa Rica and Serbia in the group stage.

It comes as Brazil confirm they will use Tottenham’s training ground ahead of the World Cup as their European training base.

“In addition to the friendlies, a partnership has been made official with Tottenham FC, who will make their facilities available for training as from May 28,” the Brazilian football federation said.

Brazil's Neymar is in a race to be fit for the World Cup.
Camera IconBrazil's Neymar is in a race to be fit for the World Cup. Credit: AP

“The Selecao will have a gym, swimming pool and two official-size football pitches available to them as well as a recently built hotel inside the training centre.”

RUSSIA’S DOCTOR SAYS PLAYERS ARE CLEANEST IN THE WORLD

Russia’s World Cup team doctor has claimed that his country’s domestic football leagues were cleaner than any other sport on the planet.

Doping allegations have dogged Russia as it prepares to host the World Cup for the first time in mid-June.

Russian athletes were forced to take part in the Pyeongchang Winter Games under a neutral Olympic flag because of cheating at the 2014 event in Sochi.

Former Russian Football Union (RFU) chief Vitaly Mutko oversaw national preparations for the 2014 Games.

He became closely associated with the scandal and stepped away from World Cup preparations in December.

Yet Russian team doctor Eduard Bezuglov said there were simply no grounds for suspicion against players because they have all been clean for years.

He explained that the RFU and the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) were holding “mandatory online courses” and publishing medical guidelines for teams in all football leagues.

“There is no such thing anywhere else in the world,” Bezuglov told the RIA Novosti state news agency.

“In other words, I do not know of any other sport that does not have a problem with banned drugs. But Russian football does not have this problem.” The world football governing body FIFA is still investigation allegations about past or present violations in the Russian game.

The most serious charges against it have come from former Moscow sports lab boss Grigory Rodchenkov -- viewed as a traitor by the Kremlin and living in hiding in the United States.

FIFA has thus far been unable to confirm Rodchenkov’s claims that past Russian World Cup teams doped or that current national players were involved.

But it has sent him a list of 59 questions to which it has so far received no public reply.

Bezuglov said 1,500 Russian player samples have been tested abroad since the World Anti-Doping Agency stripped RUSADA of accreditation in November 2015.

“In this entire time, there has not been a single positive test,” said the doctor.

“I think that a lot of the credit for this should go to Vitaly Mutko, no matter what people may think of him now,” Bezuglov added.

“He constantly told us: have meetings, explain things, educate and scare them, do whatever you want, but make sure there is no doping in football.” The beautiful game is not among the sports closely associated with doping and past Russian problems should have no impact on the World Cup.

“No Russians will be involved in the implementation of the anti-doping programme and all analysis of doping samples will be done at WADA laboratories outside Russia,” a FIFA spokesman told AFP.

FIFA said the same was the case during the last tournament in Brazil because its laboratory also lacked certification at the time.