FIFA World Cup: Messi regrets missing penalty against Iceland
Moscow, June 17 : Argentine superstar Lionel Messi said he regretted having squandered a second-half penalty try that could have led his team to victory over Iceland in Group D action on Saturday at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
The match at Otkritie Arena in Moscow, which featured two first-half goals, ended in a 1-1 draw.
"It hurts to have missed the penalty, because it would've been the decisive advantage," the FC Barcelona talisman said after the game, though adding the draw had not dampened the team's hopes in Russia, reported Efe.
"We haven't lost hope despite the draw. We still have the same desire. I think we deserved to win. We tried to find spaces in the Iceland defence, but we couldn't find them," he added.
Messi denied that the draw would affect the team in its next Group D contest Thursday against Croatia, adding that "we have some days to rest and get well-prepared for the match."
"We weren't thinking about starting with one point from the first match, but it's the first match. No one gives anything away. It's a very even World Cup and you're seeing that, because all the games are very close," he added.
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Cong 'pocketed' Rs 150 cr per annum from Assam healthcare budget during 15 yrs of rule: Shah
Guwahati (PTI): Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday alleged that the Congress, during its previous 15 years of rule in Assam, "pocketed" Rs 150 crore per annum from the state healthcare budget.
Inaugurating and laying the foundation stone for healthcare projects worth Rs 2,092 crore in Assam, Shah said the BJP works for affordable healthcare for all sections of society and lauded Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for bringing the state's medical facilities at par with states like Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka.
"Assam's healthcare was in shambles 10 years ago as Congress worked only for the financial health of its leaders' families," he said.
Attacking Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, he said that no Indian supports his acts of "defaming" the country in his bid to oppose the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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He lambasted the Congress for its "shirtless" protest at the recent AI summit in New Delhi and Gandhi for having 'chai-pakora' on the stairs of Parliament House.
"We were also in the opposition and staged protests against the government, but there is a right platform for it," he said.
"Parliament is a sacred seat of democracy. Its stairs should not be used for even dharnas. And Rahul Gandhi was having 'chai-pakora' there. Doesn't he know where to have his breakfast?" asked the Union minister.
Shah inaugurated the Rs 675-crore Pragjyotishpur Medical College and Hospital in Guwahati, at a programme held on its premises.
He also virtually inaugurated two cancer centres at Golaghat and Tinsukia, both under Assam Cancer Care Foundation (ACCF), constructed at a cost of Rs 135 crore each.
Shah virtually laid the foundation stone for super-speciality hospitals at Diphu Medical College and Hospital (Rs 220 crore), Jorhat Medical College and Hospital (Rs 310 crore), and Barpeta Medical College and Hospital (Rs 284 crore).
The foundation stone for a Rs 218-crore Swasthya Bhawan in Guwahati, and the Abhayapuri District Hospital (Rs 115 crore) were also laid by the Union home minister.
Shah arrived here on Saturday evening on a two-day visit to Assam, his fourth visit to the northeastern state in four months.
