Football

Hanoi (VNA) - The Vietnamese U23 football team has been ranked eighth in the Asian region, according to the latest rankings as announced by global football website Footy Rankings . The rankings are based on the achievements of each national team during the most recent Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U23 Asian Cup in 2016, 2018, and 2020. In line with this, Vietnam’s U23s are ranked eighth in Asia with 25,897 points, followed by Jordan on 24.228 points, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) on 23.535 points, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on 22.964 points, Thailand on 20.441 points, and China with 20.360 points, the Voice of Vietnam (VOV) cited the website. During the 2016 AFC U23 Championship, the Vietnamese team failed to make it past the qualifying round after losing eight matches and finishing with no points. Two years later the national U23 team led by head coach Park Hang-seo put in a number of outstanding performances in China to finish as …

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After nearly 18 years of living in Vietnam, retired Nigerian footballer Amaobi Honest Uzowuru has found his second home. Đặng Amaobi now spends time in training young players in HCM City and also works for several television stations as a football pundit.  — Photo courtesy of Đặng Amaobi Born in 1981 in Nigeria, Uzowuru first played in the V.League 1 in 2004 and enjoyed a successful career. He gained Vietnamese citizenship in 2011 and began going by Đặng Amaobi. Following his retirement in 2016, Amaobi decided to stay in Vietnam instead of returning home like many other foreign footballers. He spends time training young players in HCM City and also works for several television stations as a pundit. “I played for seven different teams in Vietnam and I liked them all, however, Nam Dinh were the team I loved the most and they still have a big connection with me till now,” Amaobi told Việt Nam News. “Personally, I don't have regrets during the time playing in Vietnam …

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Bùi Tiến Dũng is the Vietnamese football fit pic god. Photo Instagram @cech_tien_dung Peter Cowan With Việt Nam’s two biggest cities now both under lockdown, millions of us are getting used to the idea of spending plenty of time inside. Self-improvement has been a big lockdown trend worldwide over the past 18 months and while I haven’t had much success with my quarantine goals, this time I’m trying to take some inspiration from people within Vietnamese football. Đoàn Văn Hậu – to work on glamour muscles Đoàn Văn Hậu hasn’t spent an awful lot of time on the pitch over the last few years and while his skill on the ball may have suffered, his biceps have reaped the rewards. After his loan spell at SC Heerenveen ended with a solitary appearance, the fullback returned to Việt Nam with a noticeably more muscular frame. The 22-year-old has even drawn comparisons to the likes of Gareth Bale by local media, albeit for his calf definition instead of his performances. My …

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HEADACHE: Everton FC manager Rafa Benitez is preparing his team for the pre-season Florida Cup tournament. AFP Photo. Paul Kennedy I saw photographs this week of Everton manager Rafa Benitez (that still feels weird to write) arriving in Florida for his team’s pre-season tournament where they will play Millonarios FC of Colombia. Arsenal and Inter Milan both dropped out of the mini-competition. Rafa, responsible as ever, was wearing a facemask as he led his team off the aeroplane following their arrival in the US. As a result, I couldn’t see if he was smiling for the cameras. Maybe behind the mask he was, but we’ll never know. What we do know, is before a competitive ball has even been kicked with him as manager, Rafa is already facing problems the likes of which he has never faced before. Yes, he will take time to settle because of his previous successful spell with Everton’s arch-rivals, Liverpool, and he sure does need to win the backing of the Goodison faithful, but …

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The ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) seeded the teams based on performance at the most recent AFF Cup tournaments. Defending champion Vietnam will be the first seed, along with Thailand, the second seeds, Malaysia and Indonesia, and the third, the Philippines and Myanmar. The fourth seeds are Singapore and Cambodia, and the fifth, Timor Leste and Brunei. AFF Cup was originally scheduled to take place from Nov. 23 to Dec. 31, 2020. But due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was postponed to 2021. The group stage draw is set to commence on Aug. 10 while the main event takes place in December. Covid-19 is also the reason AFF decided to change the tournament format. Ten teams will be divided into two groups while all games are played in two centralized venues of two countries. The semifinal and final will only have one game each instead of two. Vietnam won the title in 2018 after defeating Malaysia 3-2 after two legs of the final. Under Park Hang-seo’s lead, Vietnam became the number one …

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Fans queue to buy tickets of the match between Vietnam and Malaysia at the ongoing AFF Cup at My Dinh National Stadium .(Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) will sell 25,000 online tickets if Vietnam qualify for the ongoing AFF Suzuki Cup 2018’s semi-finals, according to VFF general secretary Le Hoai Anh. Anh said the VFF held an urgent meeting to deal with difficulties in selling tickets to avoid touting. The VFF sold tickets for the match between Vietnam and Malaysia from 150,000 VND (6.5 USD) to 400,000 VND (17 USD). They sold through public bodies, online registration and in person at the stadium. 11,000 tickets were sold via public bodies, 3,700 tickets online and fans had to queue to buy 9,000 tickets at My Dinh National Stadium. The rest of the tickets went to VFF’s partners and sponsors. However, the VFF’s supply didn’t meet fans’ demand, with many unable to secure tickets through legal means so had to buy them on the black …

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Vietnam top striker Le Cong Vinh (Source: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Two Vietnamese football players, Le Huynh Duc and Le Cong Vinh, have been named among the top five goal scorers in the history of the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup. Duc scored a total of 28 goals for the national team throughout his career, which is also the second largest number of goals in Vietnam’s football history to date. Half of the goals were made at various AFF Suzuki Cup tournaments, with three goals in 1996, two in 1998, three in 2000, and six in 2002. Surpassing Duc’s goal record at the AFF Suzuki Cup, Vinh netted 15 times. His first score was made in 2004 and the last in 2016, both in matches against Cambodia. Noh Alam Shah of Singapore is the overall top goal scorer in the AFF championship history with 17 goals, seven of which were scored in a match against Laos in 2007. At the 2007 competition, the Singaporean national football team won, while Noh Alam Shah was the top individual …

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The Vietnamese national football team may be forced to play their qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup 2022 at a neutral venue if local stadiums currently fail to meet the criteria set by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Vietnam is likely to play at neutral venue in third WC qualifiers. One of the AFC’s criteria is for all grounds to have VAR technology in order to be permitted to host matches in the final qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup. According to the AFC, participating countries that do not have this technology will be forced to play at neutral venues. Furthermore, the AFC also requires away teams to isolate for only two days, a policy that is in contrast to Vietnam’s current regulations. Indeed, anyone who enters Vietnam must stay in quarantine for 21 days, and the seven day quarantine rule is for those who are fully vaccinated. Another issue for the Vietnamese team is that after returning from away games, they will not be able to play their …

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Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) coach Kiatisuk Senamuang has pledged his full support to the national team, saying that HAGL will release their players whenever needed for national team duty. Coach Kiatisuk Senamuang’s HAGL has seven players in the Việt Nam squad competing in the second round of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers. In the second round of 2022 World Cup qualifiers, HAGL had seven players called up to the national team, namely Luong Xuan Truong, Nguyen Tuan Anh, Vu Van Thanh, Nguyen Phong Hong Duy, Nguyen Cong Phuong, Nguyen Van Toan and Tran Minh Vuong. Currently, the team is training daily at Ham Rong sports training centre as HAGL has a full squad after the players returned from the national team. “We are ready to provide players whenever coach Park (Hang-seo) needs them,” Kiatisuk told Thanh Nien (Youth) newspaper. “HAGL has many footballers playing for the national team so it is very important to maintain training because it is our responsibility that whenever …

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Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - Head coach Park Hang-seo has proposed a list of 31 players as part of the plan to prepare for the FIFA 2022 World Cup final qualifiers, said the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF). New faces such as defender Truong Van Thiet, midfielder Le Tien Anh and striker Pham Tuan Hai are also given a chance to join the team. Vietnam will compete in group B of the final World Cup qualifying round with Japan, Saudi Arabia, Australia, China and Oman. The "Golden Dragons" will begin the campaign with an away match against Saudi Arabia on September 2, followed by a match against Australia at Hanoi-based My Dinh National Stadium five days later./. VNA …

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