List of Vietnam U19 team; Bayern Munich re-establishes winning record in Champions League

Bayern Munich re-establishes Champions League winning record

Bayern Munich are only the second club in history to win all 10 of their opening Champions League games to reach the final. This season, Bayern have crushed six opponents in 10 games, including Red Star Belgrade, Tottenham, Olympiakos, Chelsea, Barca and Lyon.

Bayern reached the final of the C1/Champions League for the 11th time in history after a 3-0 win over Lyon. Photo: Getty.

This season, Bayern will also meet a French team (PSG) in the final. The final between PSG and Bayern will take place at 2am on August 24 (Hanoi time).

Clubs pessimistic about the possibility of V-League's return

Nearly a month has passed since the 2020 season was suspended for the second time due to the resurgence of COVID-19, and VPF organizers are still confused and have not been able to make a decision on whether to resume. A few days ago, after presenting the plans for the V-League, First Division, and National Cup to return, VPF sent the plans to clubs for comments. However, there has been no movement to show the movement of the tournament as the pandemic still poses potential dangers.

Accordingly, VPF has set two milestones for the tournaments to return on September 5 or September 12 and is expected to be completed within about 45 days. All do not want to cancel the tournament for the common good and obligations to sponsors. However, no matter which solution is chosen, the clubs still need at least 3 weeks to focus on training to help players regain their ball feeling and achieve their best form.

SHB Da Nang team in the epicenter of the epidemic is still inactive and does not know how to return if V-League returns in September. Photo: Ngoc Dung

Head of the delegation Bui Xuan Hoa of SHB Da Nang team is concerned that if the epidemic is still in many other localities, it is impossible to play in a centralized quarantine for all 14 V-League teams. Of course, both SHB Da Nang and Quang Nam do not agree that playing at a neutral stadium will be at a disadvantage compared to opponents who have the advantage of being familiar with the home field, regardless of whether there are spectators or not.

Coach Phan Thanh Hung of Than Quang Ninh and Technical Director Nguyen Van Sy of Nam Dinh also share the same concerns with their colleagues with the unpredictable developments of the epidemic as it is now, unable to know exactly when the ball will roll again. Meanwhile, many clubs are facing difficulties due to depleted funds and players sitting idle, especially foreign players who have to sign new contracts. The leaders of Quang Nam team even applied for 5 billion VND to cover two months of inactivity before they can return to normal like other teams.

In this situation, the clubs cannot ask for more from the organizers in case of an unavoidable long break. No one wants to cancel the tournament, but to return in the most convenient and reasonable way, everyone has to wait.

MU could sign Issa Diop for £45m

Sky Sports News says MU have been told they could sign West Ham's Issa Diop this summer for £45m.

Solskjaer is looking for a new centre-back, with the futures of Chris Smalling, Marcos Rojo and Phil Jones all up in the air ahead of the new season. In fact, United are looking to offload these players at the best possible price.

MU gets green light to buy Issa Diop

Sources say West Ham need to sell Issa Diop to balance their finances and are ready to accept a £45 million offer for the defender. It is known that at least 2 Premier League teams want to sign Issa Diop.

In addition to targeting a central defender to play alongside captain Harry Maguire, Solskjaer also has a top priority of signing winger Jadon Sancho. However, MU's deal is at a standstill because Dortmund still holds the price at 120 million euros.

List of Vietnam U19 team

As part of the preparation plan for the 2020 AFC U19 Championship and to win a ticket to the 2021 FIFA U20 World Cup in Indonesia, the Vietnam U19 team under the leadership of "white wizard" Trousssier will gather on August 20.

In this gathering, the French strategist called up 36 players to select the best players for U19 Vietnam to achieve the big goals ahead.

Coach Philippe Troussier has just announced the list of 36 U19 players.

Meanwhile, surprisingly, 9 players from Phu Tho Club were "named and shamed", the rest were mainly players from PVF, Viettel or CAND...

According to the plan, U19 Vietnam will gather on August 20, at the Vietnam Youth Football Training Center. After completing the medical examination and meeting the requirements, the team will move to the VPF Football Training Center to practice for about 1 week. This is the 3rd gathering in 2020 of the U19 Vietnam team.

Speaking about the team's goals, Coach Troussier affirmed, "The goal of U19 Vietnam is not just one or two wins, but to compete for a place in the 2021 FIFA U20 World Cup."

Postponing the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, VPF adjusts the V.League organization plan

On the evening of August 19, VPF sent a dispatch to the first division and V.League teams about adjusting the plan to organize professional football tournaments compared to the plan sent on August 11. This adjustment comes from the decision to postpone the 2022 World Cup qualifiers by FIFA and AFC, which was just announced a few days ago.

Previously, VPF built a plan to organize professional football tournaments in 2020 with a break for the Vietnam National Team to participate in the 2022 World Cup qualifying matches in October and November.

First, the tournaments will return on September 12 and end on November 22. Of which, the National Cup quarter-finals will take place on September 12 and 13, while round 12 of the V.League will start on October 3, while the 10th round of the first division will be played on September 23.

The second option is that the tournaments will return a week later, on September 19 and end on November 28. Accordingly, the National Cup quarter-finals will take place on September 19-20, while round 12 of the V.League will start on October 3 and round 10 of the first division will take place on September 23.

Option 2 is used when the AFC Cup continues. This is a tournament with 2 Vietnamese representatives, Than.QN and TP.HCM, participating. VPF also offers 2 options with the starting time of the tournaments as above, but the tournament will end later, on December 5 or December 12, corresponding to each option.

In the official dispatch sent to the teams, VPF also affirmed: "In case the competition plan for the 2020 season cannot be implemented, VPF and the Tournament Executive Board will report to the Vietnam Football Federation so that the Vietnam Football Federation can exercise the right to decide on plans suitable to the actual situation."