Asiad 2018: Cong Phuong makes history; Asian newspapers praise Quang Hai as “Golden Boy”

U23 Uzbekistan has just revealed its best lineup

Fans of U23 Vietnam are certainly not happy when mentioning U23 Uzbekistan. That is the team that prevented Park Hang Seo and his team's journey in Changzhou from becoming a story with a perfect ending.

U23 Uzbekistan.

The two teams then met again at the Vinaphone Cup, a friendly tournament held at My Dinh Stadium earlier this month, but U23 Vietnam could not successfully take revenge against U23 Uzbekistan, which only fielded a reserve squad.

It is easy to see that the list of Uzbekistan U23 team participating in the men's football event of the Asian Games in Indonesia still has familiar faces such as Azizjon Ganiev, Jasurbek Yakhshiboev, Zabikhillo Urinboev or Andrey Sidorov. Sidorov was the one who scored the decisive goal for Uzbekistan U23 in the last minute of the second extra time of the final match, helping coach Ravshan Khaydarov's team win the Asian U23 championship for the first time in history.

Asian newspapers praise Quang Hai as "Golden Boy"

In the match report, FOX Sports Asia called midfielder Quang Hai of Vietnam Olympic team "Golden Boy".

Quang Hai had a very outstanding performance in the U23 Asian Cup finals. This player continued to show his talent in the match against Olympic Pakistan in the first round of the men's football group stage of the 2018 Asian Games.

In addition to coordinating the attack of U23 Vietnam, Quang Hai also directly scored the opening goal after a beautiful combination with Cong Phuong. In the match report, FOX Sports Asia called the midfielder born in 1997 "Golden Boy".

The author wrote: “Golden boy Quang Hai opened the victory for Olympic Vietnam with the opening goal. After a beautiful combination with Cong Phuong, he rushed into the penalty area and nutmegged goalkeeper Saqib Hanif.”

It should be emphasized that this is not the first time Quang Hai has been praised by Fox Sports. Remember, after the match with U23 Qatar in the U23 Asian Cup, the midfielder of Hanoi FC was compared by this newspaper as the "precious gem" of Vietnamese football.

Japan Olympics ranked second after Vietnam

Olympic Nepal is considered the weakest team in Group D. Meanwhile, Olympic Japan is considered the number 1 candidate for the top spot in this group. The difference in class was evident early in the 7th minute. From a cross by Naganuma Yoichi, Mitoma Kaoru rushed in and fired a neat shot to put the East Asian representative ahead.

With an early goal, the Japanese Olympic team completely dominated their opponents. They had 5 shots on target after that, but unfortunately, they could not score any more goals in the first half. In the second half, Japan was still the dominant team. They continued to shoot on target 8 times. But on an unlucky day, the Japanese players could not score any more goals.

With only a 1-0 win over Nepal, Japan had to finish behind Vietnam due to a poor goal difference.

Cong Phuong makes history in Vietnamese football

Perhaps at the level of U23 Vietnam and the national team, no player has ever missed a penalty kick twice in an official match. Bad luck and heavy psychological pressure are considered the reasons why Cong Phuong could not successfully execute the two penalty kicks in the match between U23 Vietnam and U23 Pakistan in the framework of ASIAD 2018.

Bad luck and heavy psychological pressure are considered the reasons why Cong Phuong could not successfully execute the two penalty kicks.

In the first penalty kick, Cong Phuong hit the crossbar and in the second penalty kick, the Nghe An striker could not defeat the U23 Pakistan goalkeeper. After consecutive unsuccessful penalty kicks, Cong Phuong showed a look of frustration.

Fortunately, Cong Phuong was able to relieve a mountain of pressure when he was the player who sealed the 3-0 score for U23 Vietnam against U23 Pakistan with a successful shot from a one-on-one situation.

Xuan Truong and Van Toan's parents are not allowed to watch their children compete.

Due to the long and problematic journey, the families of the three players Xuan Truong, Van Toan, and Van Thanh were unable to watch their sons compete.

With the desire to boost their children's spirits, Mr. Luong Bach Chien, Nguyen Van Tao and Vu Van Ho traveled to Indonesia with their families.

Meanwhile, midfielder Xuan Truong was substituted early after the first half. Meanwhile, Van Toan was not allowed to play a single minute by coach Park. Van Thanh was the only player out of the three who played the full 90 minutes of the match against Olympic Pakistan.

Seeing his son had to leave the field early in the second half, Mr. Luong Bach Chien seemed quite worried. However, when his youngest son encouraged him that there was no serious injury problem, Mr. Chien was able to leave with peace of mind. It is known that the families of these 3 players will continue to stay to support the Vietnam Olympic team until the end of the group stage.