Cong Phuong attracts attention of Chinese media; Man City midfielder eager to confront Messi

Cong Phuong attracts the attention of Chinese media

Cong Phuongattracted the attention of Chinese media when he continuously scored goals during the training sessions of the Vietnamese team.

Cong Phuong was absent from the two matches lost to Saudi Arabia and Australia in the third qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup in Asia due to personal reasons. In this training session, Coach Park Hang-seo summoned Cong Phuong to prepare for the two matches against China and Oman in October.

Cong Phuong is integrating very quickly with his teammates, continuously scoring goals in the training matches of the Vietnamese team. For that reason, the HAGL striker has attracted a lot of attention from the Chinese media.

Vietnam Teamjust had an internal match on September 26 and main striker Nguyen Cong Phuong scored again. It is worth mentioning that since returning to the team, he has scored 4 goals after 3 practice matches.

Cong Phuong can make China regret. Photo: bongdaplus

Therefore, Chinese football fans also want to remind coach Li Tie and the players to focus on being cautious with Cong Phuong in the match against Vietnam," Sohu (China) reported about Cong Phuong's impressive performance.

Sohu also gave coach Li Tie a suggestion to counter the danger of Cong Phuong. Accordingly, the Chinese team must assign someone to closely follow Cong Phuong throughout the match. Center back Jiang Guangtai (of British origin) and midfielder Chi Zhongguo are the ones who can take on this important task.

“Jiang Guangtai played quite well in the two matches against Australia and Japan. His performance was also praised by fans. This is the type of defender who actively pursues and this will become an advantage for Jiang Guangtai to be able to contain Nguyen Cong Phuong,” Sohu advised.

China must beat Vietnam on October 7 if they hope to qualify for Qatar next summer. If they don’t get three points, coach Li Tie has announced he will resign and return home immediately.

Thailand team invites unexpected coach to play Vietnam?

According to many Thai newspapers, including the number 1 sports newspaper Siam Sport, the Football Association of Thailand (FAT) is planning to invite coach Mano Polking to lead the Thai national team.

FAT plans to give Mr. Polking a short-term contract to bring the "war elephant" to the AFF Cup 2020 later this year.

It is likely that FAT will base on the results and performance of the Thai team in this tournament to decide whether to continue cooperating with the Brazilian coach or not.

Coach Polking was not successful when working in V-League.

The information Siam Sport gave surprised experts because FAT is said to be targeting big-name coaches.

Mr. Polking is no stranger to Vietnamese fans. He once led Ho Chi Minh City Club to compete in V-League 2021 but was unsuccessful, despite receiving a salary of up to 700 million VND/month.

In addition, he was also given maximum conditions with expensive foreign players. Unfortunately, the Thong Nhat Stadium team under his tenure always played poorly.

According to the Thai media, the fact that Mr. Polking used to work in Vietnam is an advantage for this coach because the Thai people are eager to overthrow Mr. Park and his team.

Man City midfielder eager to face Messi

Man City defender Ruben Dias hopes thatLionel Messiwill be fit enough to play in the match PSG vs Man City in the second round of the 2021/22 Champions League group stage.

Messi has returned to training with the PSG team after being injured in the match against Lyon on September 19. However, it is still unclear whether the Argentinian player will be fit enough to play in the match against Man City.

On the other side of the battle line, Dias is hoping to face Messi at the Parc des Princes at 2am on September 29 (Vietnam time).

Ruben Dias is eager to face Messi.

"Messi is a phenomenon and everyone wants to face him on the pitch," Dias said at a press conference ahead of PSG vs Man City. "But whether PSG have Messi, Mbappe, Neymar or Icardi, we are ready to face them."

"PSG have improved their quality over the summer and their squad is much stronger than when they faced us last year. They are one of the strongest teams in Europe at the moment."

"People like Sergio Ramos or Messi will add to PSG's winning mentality. But we won't be worried. Last season they had Neymar, Mbappe and Di Maria but still couldn't beat Man City," Dias added.

The world's number 1 team was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Futsal World Cup 2021

The No. 1 team in the world Futsal rankings - Spain was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Futsal World Cup 2021 after a 2-4 loss to Portugal.

The last two quarter-finals of the Futsal World Cup 2021 took place on the night of September 27 and early morning of September 28, Vietnam time. In the early match, the two strongest Futsal teams in Europe: Spain and Portugal faced each other.

After a goalless first half, Spain took the lead in the 22nd minute through Fernandez. A minute later, Martínez made it 2-0 for the number 1 team in the Futsal World Rankings with a technical free kick from a tight angle.

However, the shining moment of superstar Ricardinho with the situation of stealing the ball and assisting Andre Coelho helped Portugal shorten the score to 1-2 in the 31st minute. In the 36th minute, Zicky quickly seized the opportunity from a side kick, equalizing 2-2 for Portugal and bringing the match into 10 minutes of extra time.

Kazakhstan beat Iran to reach the semi-finals of a Futsal World Cup for the first time. Photo: Getty.

In the 2 extra periods, both sides were cautious, neither team dared to take the initiative to attack. In that situation, Raya's personal mistake on the Spanish side with an own goal in the 43rd minute created the turning point of the match.

Trailing in extra time, Spain was forced to play power play in the final minutes. However, the haste caused the No. 1 team on the Futsal World Rankings not only to not equalize but also conceded another goal when Pany scored from a distance to seal the victory for Portugal. Spain had to sadly say goodbye to the Futsal World Cup 2021 in the quarterfinals.

Portugal's semi-final opponent was confirmed as Kazakhstan after the team came from behind to beat Iran 3-2 in the last quarter-final.

Moslem Oladghobad and Ahmad Esmaeilpour scored twice to give Iran a 2-0 lead in the first half, but Kazakhstan scored three goals in the second half thanks to Arnold Knaub, Taynan and an own goal from Iran goalkeeper Alireza Samimi. The dramatic victory over the AFC representative helped Kazakhstan reach the semi-finals of a Futsal World Cup for the first time in history.

The semi-final matches of the Futsal World Cup 2021 will take place on September 29 and 30./.