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Head coach Park Hang Seo of Vietnam’s national football squad wants to have more time training his players before the World Cup second qualifying round, but his request will be difficult to meet. V-League is schedule to resume in March. In order to best serve the Vietnamese team to play the World Cup 2022 qualifier, the Vietnam Football Federation has set two options for the return of V-League 2021 after a break due to Covid-19 pandemic. Option 1: V-League will resume on March 13 and close on September 19. Phase 1 of V-League 2021 is scheduled to temporarily cease on May 22 for players of the national squad to group up to prepare for the World Cup 2022 qualifiers. Thus, coach Park Hang Seo will have one week to train his team before going to the United Arab Emirates or Thailand (the Asian Football Confederation - AFC will decide on March 15). Chairman of Vietnam Professional Football (VPF) Tran Anh Tu said that the two plans are being carefully considered to create the best conditions for the national team. "VPF and VFF have agreed that this year V-League schedule must create the best conditions for football clubs to compete at continental tournaments, especially for the Vietnam national and U23 Vietnam teams. However, it is difficult to shorten the time V-League because it is too stressful for players," Tu said. The new wave of Covid-19 has strongly affected Vietnam’s football. The time for both V-League tournament and the national team’s gathering has reduced. V-League participants will have only 3-4 days off between games, instead of one week as the first 2 rounds. Before the national team is summoned, 10 rounds of V-League will be held to enable coach Park Hang Seo to recruit the best players. Coach Park Hang Seo has proposed summoning the national team for two times, totaling arund three weeks, instead of only one as schedule. But because of the current situation, the Korean coach’s proposal may not be accepted. According …

[Read more...] about World Cup qualifiers: Coach Park Hang Seo makes “special” requests

Great power comes from a small grain of rice On January 26, Vinaseed's shipment of 60 tonnes of premium fragrant rice, imported by Longdan in the UK, hit the shelves of the supermarket chain with a retail price of up to £15.5 (VND465,000) per 10 kg. Longdan is the first enterprise to import rice from Vietnam after the UK - Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA) took effect. In the near future, there will be many enterprises importing Vietnamese rice under the agreement. Previously, on January 13, the first batch of 1,600 tonnes of rice, opening the 2021 export season of the Trung An Hi-tech Farming Joint Stock Company, was sent to Singapore and Malaysia at a price that could not be better, of up to US$750 per tonne. Pham Thai Binh, Director General of Trung An Hi-Tech Farming JSC, said the two types of rice exported in the shipment were Jasmine 85 fragrant rice and Huong Lai fragrant rice; of which, 450 tonnes of Jasmine 85 went to Singapore at US$680 per tonne and 1,150 tonnes of Huong Lai fragrant rice delivered to customers in Malaysia for US$750 a tonne. In addition to the above shipment, Trung An JSC also had an order of more than 2,000 tonnes exported to Germany, continuing to make effective use of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement that took effect last year. Those are the two shipments that successfully opened the new year for Vietnamese rice, with an expectation of more miracles in 2021 than the previous year. Rice exports in 2020 reached about 6.15 million tonnes, worth US$3.07 billion. Although rice exports decreased by about 3.5% compared to 2019, mainly to ensure national food security, export value increased by 9.3%. The average export price for the whole year is estimated to have been US$499 a tonne, an increase of 13.3% compared to 2019. Vietnamese rice prices have surpassed Thailand, rice has become a prized agricultural commodity with positive growth and is constantly being prioritised in the world market. Looking at the achievements …

[Read more...] about From saving hunger to world’s best rice title

New US President Joseph R. Biden was sworn in with his wife Jill Biden by his side, photo: AFP Last Wednesday many Americans breathed a sigh of relief as Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th US President without any further incident from those who believe the election was “stolen” from former President Donald Trump. Instead of attending the ceremony as is tradition, Trump and his family took one last trip on Air Force One to Florida, where he will be based until the former reality TV star decides whether to run for president again in 2024 – or perhaps even endorse a family member for the post. Alongside Biden, Kamala Harris was sworn in as vice-president, becoming the first woman in American history – as well as the first woman of African-American and South Asian descent – to take on the role. “Few people in our nation’s history have been more challenged or found a time more difficult than the time we’re in now,” Biden said in his inauguration speech. He vowed to dedicate his “whole soul” to rebuilding a country battered by disease, economic turmoil, racial inequality, and political division. The 78-year-old certainly has his work cut out for him, but he rushed into action to put his stamp on the presidency by signing a raft of executive orders within hours of entering the White House. Biden signed a letter retracting Trump’s decision to leave the World Health Organization, which would have been effective in July. There was widespread criticism and an almost complete lack of international support last year for Trump’s move in the midst of a pandemic. In the most noteworthy but also most unsurprising move, the US is to be reinstated to the Paris climate agreement. The accord, which looks to curb the heating of the planet, will be much boosted by the return of second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world. Biden has previously warned that climate change poses the “greatest threat to the country”, which was battered by record wildfires and …

[Read more...] about Domestic strife dampens US foreign policy