Vietnam team prepares for friendly match with Cambodia; Mbappe rescues Real against Atletico

Vietnam team prepares to play friendly match with Cambodia team

According to the latest information from the Cambodian Football Federation, the Vietnam National Team and the Cambodia National Team will have a friendly match during FIFA Days in March. The FFC homepage shared: "At the invitation of the Vietnam Football Federation, the Cambodian National Team will have an international friendly match with the Vietnam National Team, the champion of the 2024 ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup, on March 19, 2025 in Binh Duong province (Vietnam)".

The friendly match with Cambodia is considered a preparation for coach Kim Sang-sik and his team for the first match in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers against Laos 6 days later (March 25). Laos and Cambodia are both opponents rated lower than Vietnam. This is a good opportunity for Hoang Duc and his teammates to accumulate points to improve their ranking on the FIFA rankings.

Vietnam and Cambodia have not met for a long time. The last time the two teams met was at the AFF Cup 2020, when Vietnam defeated Cambodia 4-0. In the past 10 meetings, Cambodia has lost all.

The Cambodian national team has shown remarkable progress in recent times with many naturalized players, so this will be an interesting opponent for the Vietnamese national team in the journey to prepare for a ticket to the 2027 Asian Cup finals.

In the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers, Vietnam is in the same group with Malaysia, Laos and Nepal. Coach Kim Sang-sik and his team's goal is to win the top spot in the group to qualify for the final round.

To prepare for the matches against Laos and Cambodia, the Vietnam National Team is expected to gather from March 11, right after the V.League 2024/25 round 16 ends.

Hoang Anh Gia Lai lost to The Cong Viettel

Round 12 of V-League 2024/25, Hoang Anh Gia Lai traveled to the North to visit The Cong Viettel. Both teams showed their determination to earn all 3 points to improve their position on the rankings.

In the 4th minute, the home team had a chance. Tien Anh crossed from the right wing, Pedro shot immediately but the ball missed Hoang Anh Gia Lai's goal by a hair.

In the 5th minute, the score was opened for the army team. The ball was cut down to Amarildo on the left wing and the number 9 striker dribbled past Ly Duc to penetrate the penalty area and then unleashed a classy right-footed shot that left Hoang Anh Gia Lai goalkeeper Trung Kien helpless.

Minutes after Viettel opened the scoring, Khuat Van Khang had a good chance to shoot from a tight angle to increase the score to 2-0 for the home team. Unfortunately, this player crossed the ball in an unreasonable way.

In the 20th minute, an impressive combination of The Cong Viettel confused Hoang Anh Gia Lai. Wesley Nata rushed down and shot diagonally, forcing goalkeeper Trung Kien to show his talent to save the home team.

It was not until the 28th minute that the visiting team Hoang Anh Gia Lai had their first notable move. Brandao got the ball from the left wing. The foreign player tried to cross the ball inside but could not create any difficulties for goalkeeper Van Phong and the defenders of The Cong Viettel.

In the 33rd minute, the score was already 2-0 for Viettel. Number 23 Wesley Nata ran down very quickly and dribbled the ball into the penalty area and then crossed to Amarildo. The Brazilian striker raised the score to 2-0 and brought the home team closer to victory.

More than 10 minutes after conceding the second goal, Ly Duc rushed in to head the ball decisively, but unfortunately the ball went a bit too high over The Cong Viettel's goal.

At the beginning of the second half, Hoang Anh Gia Lai made two substitutions, Nguyen Minh Tam and Nguyen Thanh Nhan were brought onto the field. Huu Phuoc and Anh Tai were the two players taken off.

Minute 53. Brandao accelerated past Phan Tuan Tai and fired a shot from a tight angle. However, The Cong Viettel goalkeeper Van Phong controlled the situation well.

At the end of the match, Hoang Anh Gia Lai tried to attack but only got an honorary goal in the 82nd minute by Marciel, thereby accepting to return empty-handed.

Vietnamese bicycles have the first Asian Gold Medal in the amateur category

Participating in the continental arena for the first time, veteran Hoang Hai Nam officially stepped onto the podium to present the first Gold Medal for the Vietnamese delegation at the 2025 Asian Road Cycling Championship, individual time trial for men over 60 years old, on the second day of competition of the tournament.

It was even more special when he competed with a car borrowed from the host Thailand, after the incident of Vietnamese cars burning on the way.

At the Asian Cycling Championship currently taking place in Thailand, in addition to 16 members of the national team competing in the U18, U23 and team categories, Vietnam also participated in the Masters "veteran" category with 9 amateur racers. The team is led by Ms. Le Thi Sen - Head of the Amateur Cycling Committee of the Vietnam Cycling and Motor Sports Federation.

Mbappe rescues Real against Atletico

The Madrid derby takes place in the context of Real and Atletico fiercely competing for the top spot on the 2024/25 La Liga rankings. The gap between the two teams is only 1 point.

Entering the match, Real was the team that took the initiative to attack with home field advantage and the famous attacking quartet of Bellingham - Mbappe - Vinicius - Rodrygo. However, Atletico was not afraid to deploy their forte defensive counter-attacking style of play.

The turning point of the first half came in the 32nd minute. Tchouameni fouled Lino in Real's penalty area. After consulting VAR, the referee awarded Atletico a penalty. On the penalty spot, Alvarez easily defeated goalkeeper Courtois, opening the score for Atletico. 1-0 was also the score of the first half.

In the second half, Real Madrid went all out in search of a goal. And they soon got what they needed. In the 50th minute, Mbappe quickly kicked the ball back to the starting line.

There was still plenty of time left in the match, but neither Real nor Atletico took any risks in attacking, instead playing with confidence. The match thus ended without either side scoring another goal.

The final result of the match was 1-1. Real still tops the table with 50 points, Atletico is right behind with 49. Barca has 45 points and can narrow the gap if they beat Seville.

Man City's 60 million Euro rookie makes disastrous debut

On the evening of February 8, Nico Gonzalez made a mistake that led to a goal and had to leave the field in the first half of the match against Leyton in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Nico Gonzalez’s Manchester City debut lasted just under 25 minutes. Just seconds before Leyton Orient opened the scoring with Jamie Donley’s long-range strike, Gonzalez was tackled by Sonny Perkins. City’s €60m new signing was injured but continued playing, only to be withdrawn in favour of Bernardo Silva in the 22nd minute.

Before leaving the field, Gonzalez had not left any significant mark. The midfielder born in 2002 had 14 touches of the ball and one of them was a clumsy situation that led to Man City's shocking loss to their opponent playing in the third division.

Previously, Man City recruited Gonzalez to replace Rodri. Pep Guardiola hopes that this midfielder's injury is not serious, because the Etihad team still has many important matches in the Premier League and Champions League.

Gonzalez, 23, started his career at Barcelona in 2019, before joining Porto four years later. He scored nine goals in 68 appearances for the Portuguese giants. The Spaniard was a key player as the Dragao outfit won the Copa del Rey last season.

After the FA Cup match against Leyton Orient, Man City will host Real Madrid in the Champions League play-off on the morning of February 12.