Liberta Sports Club President Kenny Benjamin.
After holding out for the past two weeks, Liberta Sports Club will play its first game in the Antigua and Barbuda Premier Division this Sunday but its president, Kenneth Benjamin, has continued to express his concerns over the silence of the Antigua and Barbuda Football Associations’ (ABFA) on the matter of player insurance.
Liberta has been at odds with the ABFA since earlier this year when it’s president wrote to the ABFA asking about the presidency of the association and insurance coverage for players for the 2022/2023 season of the Premier Division.
ABFA General Secretary Rohan Hector told Sportsmax.TV that President Everton Gonzales, who fell ill shortly after he was elected in April 2022, is still in charge and is aware of the daily running of the association as per his instructions.
A week ago, Hector said, Gonzales in a missive, sent word to the clubs updating them on football-related matters including plans to support the clubs with a second tranche of Covid-19 relief funds as well as additional support funding for the teams that have been without competition for two and half years prior to three weeks ago when competition resumed in the Premier Division.
However, Benjamin remains skeptical about the veracity of that missive and is even more concerned about the ongoing silence over player insurance.
Hector told Sportsmax.TV that the FA sent out a form to collect contact information from the players in an effort to speed up the process for new and more robust insurance coverage for players, coaches and officials in the premier division.
However, Benjamin claims that the association already had contact information for the players and that he does not believe that the players are covered even as the premier division enters its third week.
“A member club had a concern and they didn’t even have the courtesy to respond to us,” Benjamin told Sportsmax.TV in response to Hector’s claim and perceived threat about sanctioning Liberta with the possibility of expulsion from the league.
“Before the league, we wrote to them and said what is the situation with the insurance and they didn’t respond and we wrote and said we can’t let our players play without insurance they are working men and they haven’t responded up to now,” Benjamin said Wednesday.
“So for the first two games we didn’t turn up because they haven’t said anything to us. They sent a general email that is not addressing our issue.”
Benjamin indicated that the FA suggested that what the clubs must do is that if there is an injury, the club should spend the money for rehabilitation, submit an invoice and the FA would reimburse the club. This, Benjamin said, was not satisfactory.
“When we saw that we asked them, how much will be reimbursed back, what if someone gets injured in practice are they covered. All of these questions need to be answered before we just jump up and say okay,” he said.
“So those were our concerns, mainly insurance. They are trying to avoid this issue. That is not the way an association functions. All we wanted was a dialogue with them to clear up whether the players are covered.
“We are an organized club. We are not just a team. We have to answer to our members, auditors and all these things. We do those things so we want to know what is it that we are covered for, how much are you (the FA) going to give back if we spend x-amount of money.”
Leighton Levy is a journalist with 28 years’ experience covering crime, entertainment, and sports. He joined the staff at SportsMax.TV as a content editor two years ago and is enjoying the experience of developing sports content and new ideas. At SportsMax.tv he is pursuing his true passion - sports.
Argentina 7-0 Curacao: Messi caps 100th international goal with first-half hat-trick
Lionel Messi scored his 100th international goal before capping his performance with a first-half hat-trick as Argentina routed Curacao 7-0 during Tuesday's friendly in Santiago del Estero.
Messi came into the game on 99 international goals but did not need to wait long to bring up triple figures, netting a 20th-minute opener, in a lopsided match-up where the world champions raced to a 5-0 half-time lead.
The Argentinian captain played the entire 90 minutes, scoring three goals within 17 devastating first-half minutes, while he also laid off the assist for Enzo Fernandez's powerful strike among the flurry.
Messi was denied early on by Curacao goalkeeper Eloy Room's sharp save, but soon after Giovani Lo Celso found him in space inside the box, setting him up to jink past two defenders and fire in a low right-foot shot for his 100th Argentina goal.
Nicolas Gonzalez added a second in the 23rd minute when he out-jumped Room to head home from a corner, before he played provider for Messi's second with a neat left-foot finish in the 33rd minute.
Two minutes later, Messi held up the ball and dished out a deft pass for Fernandez to lash home, with the Paris Saint-Germain star wrapping up his hat-trick when he raced on to Lo Celso's lofted pass and coolly converted after taking two touches.
Room brilliantly denied Lautaro Martinez twice early in the second half, while Leandro Bacuna fizzed Curacao's best chance over the bar from a 63rd-minute free-kick on the edge of the box.
Substitute Angel Di Maria added a sixth goal from the penalty spot in the 78th minute after Cuco Martina's handball, with Gonzalo Montiel side-footing home another from Paulo Dybala's cutback in the 88th minute.
Arteta issues Saka warning - 'He has room for improvement'
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has heaped praise on Bukayo Saka for his consistency but claims the youg star still has room for improvement.
Saka has been a key pillar in Arsenal's Premier League success this term, with the side sitting eight points clear of second-placed Manchester City as they chase their first league title since 2003-04.
Only Manchester City's Erling Haaland and Tottenham's Harry Kane have more combined goals and assists in the league this season, with Saka having netted 12 goals with 10 assists. Saka has also started all 28 of Arsenal's league games this campaign.
"First of all, I think you have to recognise what he's been doing," Arteta told Sky Sports about 21-year-old Saka.
"The consistency he's shown at his age and at this level is something rare to see. He's taken it with normality.
"If you ask me if he has room for improvement, I would say: 'Yes - a lot.' He's never satisfied, he always wants more and he can still do a lot of things better and more efficiently, but we are really pleased to have him."
Talks are ongoing between Arsenal and Saka on a new deal, with his current contract due to expire in 2024.
Last week former Arsenal centre-back Kolo Toure urged the club to sign Saka on a 10-year deal to secure his long-term future.
Saka was outstanding for England at last year's World Cup and netted in Sunday's 2-0 win over Ukraine at Wembley.
Lionel Messi 100: The Argentina great's five best international goals
With his strike against Curacao on Tuesday, Lionel Messi reached another landmark by scoring 100 goals for Argentina.
The 35-year-old brought up the milestone in style, receiving a 20th-minute pass from Giovani Lo Celso before jinking past two Curacao defenders and rifling in a low right-foot finish.
The man considered by many to be the greatest footballer of all time had come in for some criticism over the years for his performances at international level.
That was until he led Argentina to Copa America success in 2021 and followed that up at last year's World Cup, starring as La Albiceleste recovered from a shock opening defeat to Saudi Arabia to beat defending champions France in the final on penalties.
Of course, the sheer volume of his goals has been breathtaking, with only Cristiano Ronaldo and Ali Daei scoring more in international men's football.
But Stats Perform picked out five individual strikes that were particularly memorable.
Argentina v Mexico (July 11, 2007)
Having only just turned 20, Messi was expected to win the Copa America for his country in 2007.
Ultimately, Argentina were beaten in the final by Brazil, but not before Messi had graced the stage with a sumptuous lob in their 3-0 win against Mexico in the semi-finals, being fed on the right of the penalty before an outrageous lob over Oswaldo Sanchez into the far corner.
Argentina v Brazil (June 9, 2012)
The two great rivals faced each other in New Jersey as they prepared for the 2012 Olympic Games in London, and a topsy-turvy contest had already seen Messi score twice.
In the 84th minute and with the score tied at 3-3, Messi went as trademark as possible, picking up the ball on the right just into the Brazil half before dribbling for goal. He cut inside the nearest defender on the edge of the box and curled a shot into the top-left corner of the net.
Argentina v Paraguay (September 7, 2012)
Just a few months later, Messi was at it from distance again, this time even further out as he showed off his supreme free-kick taking ability.
With Argentina leading Paraguay 2-1 in their World Cup qualifier, Messi lined up a set-piece effort a little over 30 yards out, whipping the ball over the wall and in off the goalkeeper's left-hand post.
Argentina v Iran (June 21, 2014)
In their second group game of the 2014 World Cup, Argentina had struggled to break down a resolute Iran side who were on the verge of securing a famous 0-0 draw and valuable point.
That was until Messi picked up the ball on the right in the 91st minute in Belo Horizonte. He darted inside, as he so often does, and curled a sumptuous effort past Alireza Haghighi from some 25 yards, the ball nestling in the bottom-left corner.
Argentina v Mexico (November 26, 2022)
Having already lost to Saudi Arabia in their first game at the 2022 World Cup, Argentina could not find a way past Mexico in the first hour of their second encounter either.
Or, they couldn't until their captain stepped up.
With raucous fans urging them on at Lusail Stadium, Messi received a pass from Angel Di Maria before hitting a shot from outside the box low and hard to Guillermo Ochoa's left, lighting the touchpaper that would ultimately end with the trophy in his hands at the end of the campaign.
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