Cong Phuong shines to help HCMC FC return to V-League championship race; Man City crushes Arsenal

Man City crush Arsenal

Contrary to many people's predictions, coach Pep Guardiola unexpectedly used young center-back Eric Garcia alongside Aymeric Laporte and left Nicolas Otamdendi on the bench. Meanwhile, Gabriel Jesus also started in place of his senior Sergio Aguero. On the Arsenal side, coach Mikel Arteta gave opportunities to young players like Bukayo Saka or Eddie Nketiah and left Nicolas Pepe and Alexandre Lacazette on the sidelines.

In the 39th minute, Sterling had another good chance to open the scoring, but his shot to the far corner after De Bruyne's pass unfortunately went wide. It seemed like the first half would end in a 0-0 draw, but Sterling put his name on the scoreboard.

De Bruyne with a goal from the penalty spot.

Then, in the 90+2 minute, substitute Phil Foden easily tapped the ball into the net from close range after Aguero's previous shot hit the post to seal a 3-0 victory for Man City.

With the win, Man City consolidated their second place and temporarily narrowed the gap with the leading team Liverpool to 22 points (60 compared to 82). Meanwhile, Arsenal ranked 9th with 40 points.

Cong Phuong shines to help HCMC FC return to the 2020 V-League championship race

On the evening of June 17, at Thong Nhat Stadium, the host team Ho Chi Minh City and Viettel gave the audience an attractive and beautiful match within the framework of round 5 of the National Football Championship (V-League 2020). With reasonable tactics and the brilliance of Cong Phuong, the home team won all 3 points with a 3-0 victory.

In the 26th minute, from a cross from his teammate on the left wing, midfielder Seo Yong Duk suddenly entered the penalty area, headed the ball past goalkeeper Tran Nguyen Manh (number 26) to open the score for the home team. This goal was considered the turning point of the match, as it relieved the pressure on Coach Chung Hae-soung and his team.

This is Cong Phuong's first goal in V-League 2020.

This advantage also helped the home team Ho Chi Minh City deploy a very effective defensive counter-attacking style of play in the second half. From the 61st to the 67th minute, player Cong Phuong (number 21) shone with a goal and an assist, helping the home team win 3-0. In the second goal, Cong Phuong had a brave breakthrough, eliminated the opponent's defender and finished off goalkeeper Nguyen Manh. Immediately after that, Cong Phuong himself had an accurate pass, helping Huy Toan (number 16) escape past Nguyen Manh to put the ball into the empty net.

With a resounding victory and a strong impression from Cong Phuong, Ho Chi Minh City FC has returned to the championship race with 10 points after 5 rounds, temporarily ranked 2nd due to being behind the top team Binh Duong in terms of additional index.

Ronaldo mocked after losing in Italian Cup final

The Portuguese superstar had a rather lackluster match and was unable to lift the national cup title in his second season in Italy.

Cristiano Ronaldo was expected to shine to help Juventus win the first title of the 2019/20 season. However, the Portuguese superstar could not make a difference against Napoli's solid defense.

In 90 minutes at the Olimpico, Ronaldo had 3 shots but only 1 of them was on target. The former Real Madrid star passed 88% accurately and lost the ball 4 times.

Ronaldo was blocked by Napoli's defense for 90 minutes. Photo: Reuters.

This lackluster performance made the former Real Madrid star the target of criticism from fans.

"Juventus have won the national cup for 4 consecutive years. Since Ronaldo arrived, they have not been able to win this tournament again," said a fan.

"Juventus paid Ronaldo a huge salary to fail two consecutive years in the national cup and get eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Champions League by Ajax's young team," Ultimate10 account mocked.

"While Messi continues to shine, Ronaldo plays poorly and loses one of the important titles of the season," compared nickname SalahKop.

This afternoon, June 18, draw for the final round of U.19 Asia

AFC hopes that the Covid-19 situation will improve so that the final round can take place on schedule in Uzbekistan from October 14 to 31. The draw will take place in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) at 3:30 p.m. today, June 18.

Having won the 2016 AFC U19 Championship bronze medal, in the 2020 tournament qualifiers, the Vietnam U19 team only qualified for the finals as one of the four best second-placed teams (winning 3-0 against Mongolia, 4-1 against Guam and drawing 0-0 against Japan, behind Japan in goal difference), so they were placed in group 3 of the four drawn groups, and could meet host Uzbekistan or Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Qatar (seed group number 1); or Japan, Tajikistan, Australia, Indonesia (group 2).

At the beginning of the training session, coach Troussier did not call up players from the teams participating in the National U19 Finals.

To realize this ambition, U.19 Vietnam will be gathered in many sessions for the French coach to screen and select the best players. Immediately after the national U.19 qualifying round, coach Troussier called 29 players from the eliminated teams Hanoi (11), Viettel (6), Thanh Hoa (5), SHB.Da Nang (4), Quang Ninh (2) and Nam Dinh (1) to gather in parallel and right at the place where the national U.19 final round takes place, the PVF Center. This list will certainly change a lot after the U.19 teams PVF, SLNA, HAGL, Ho Chi Minh City, B.Binh Duong, CAND, An Giang finish the final round.

Ronaldo Thai: "Vietnam is number 1 in Southeast Asia"

Charyl Chappuis, nicknamed "Thai Ronaldo" admitted that Vietnam has surpassed Thailand to lead the Southeast Asian region.

“Thailand has always thought they were the best,” Charyl Chappuis, nicknamed “Thai Ronaldo,” told ESPN. “I remember the 2016 AFF Cup, Thailand won easily. We entered the tournament thinking we would be champions no matter what.”

Charyl Chappuis.

Indeed, after the extremely successful period of 2013 - 2017 with the inspiration of Kiatisak Senamuang on the coaching bench, the Thai team was overshadowed by Vietnam. In the regional arena, Thailand is now the former champion of the AFF Cup, giving up that position to Vietnam under coach Park Hang-seo. Not to mention that at the 2019 SEA Games, Thailand, which had won 3 consecutive SEA Games Gold Medals, was eliminated from the group stage. Meanwhile, Mr. Park's U22 Vietnam team won the first gold medal in history.