Vietnam team loses players due to disciplinary action in 2026 World Cup qualifiers; Xavi announces leaving Barca at end of season

Vietnam national football team loses soldiers due to disciplinary action in 2026 World Cup qualifiers

AFC stipulates that the penalty in the 2023 Asian Cup can be applied in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. Therefore, with the red card that Khuat Van Khang received when meeting Iraq, he will not be able to join the Vietnam national team to meet Indonesia in March.

In the final match of the 2023 Asian Cup group stage against Iraq, Khuat Van Khang received a red card at the end of the first half, forcing the Vietnam team to play with one less player. Therefore, from leading 1-0, Vietnam lost 2-3 at the end of the match and extended the unforgettable period against Iraq.

Khuat Van Khang's two yellow cards came in two unfortunate situations, especially the one where he received the second yellow card. This situation happened in front of the opponent's penalty area, there was no pressure on Khuat Van Khang. But the 21-year-old midfielder still wanted the ball, and then kicked his opponent's knee.

As a result, the referee could not be lenient and gave him another yellow card, forcing Van Khang to serve a 1-match suspension. This is also the second red card of the Vietnamese team after the case of Thanh Long. Thus, Vietnam became the team to receive the most red cards in the group stage of the 2023 Asian Cup, equal to Kyrgyzstan.

According to AFC, Van Khang will have to serve the penalty in the next match of the national team. Because Vietnam has been eliminated from the 2023 Asian Cup, this penalty will be transferred to the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. Thus, the Viettel midfielder will not be able to play when Vietnam visits Indonesia on March 21.

France will support the Vietnamese Sports Delegation to attend the Olympics

French Ambassador to Vietnam Olivier Brochet recently visited and met with the teams training at the National Sports Training Center.

At the meeting, Director of the National Sports Training Center Nguyen Manh Hung asked the Ambassador to create the best conditions for Vietnamese athletes to participate in the Olympics in France, and to go to Paris in advance to get acquainted with the competition conditions.

After the Olympics, France will create conditions for the National Sports Training Center as well as the Vietnam Olympic Committee to exchange and learn training and competition experiences, health recovery methods, sports medicine, etc. because France is one of the six strongest sports powers in the world.

The Ambassador also said that the host country of the 2024 Paris Olympics will create the best conditions for the Vietnamese delegation when they attend the 2024 Paris Olympics and hopes that Vietnamese athletes will work hard to train to have more places to attend the Olympics. This Olympics will have a very new Opening Ceremony not in the stadium but along the banks of the Seine River. Vietnamese athletes will promote the image of Vietnamese Sports at the Olympics.

The Ambassador also affirmed that he will coordinate with the Vietnam Olympic Committee to provide maximum support for visa procedures for the Vietnamese Sports Delegation and create the best conditions for Vietnamese Sports athletes during their participation in the Olympics, as well as help the delegation have meetings and exchanges with French sports authorities to further enhance cooperation between the two countries in this field.

In particular, we will support the opening of basic French classes for the Vietnamese Sports Delegation participating in the Olympics based on the needs of the delegation and the hope that French will help members of the Vietnamese Sports Delegation have more opportunities to interact and interact with the French people and French culture.

Xavi announces he will leave Barca at the end of the season

Early morning on January 28, Goal reported that coach Xavi Hernandez will leave Barca after the 2023/24 season ends.

The decision was made by coach Xavi at a press conference after Barca lost 3-5 to Villarreal in round 22 of La Liga on the same day. The defeat at home at the Olympic Lluis Companys Stadium left the Catalan representative far behind Real Madrid - the top team - in the rankings. Currently, Xavi's team is 10 points behind their arch-rivals.

"We have reached the limit of not being able to save the situation. It is time for a change. As a Cule, I believe this is the time to leave. I have spoken to the board and the club. I will leave Barca on June 30," said coach Xavi.

"I don't want to be a problem for the club, and the best thing is to leave after June. Two years ago, I was the solution for Barca, but now, my leaving is the best solution," the former Spanish player continued to emphasize.

Xavi's contract with Barca is still valid until 2025, with an option to extend for another year. More than 10 days ago, coach Xavi announced that he would leave if the club did not achieve good results in the 2023/24 season.

Bayern Munich struggles to keep up with Leverkusen

The match between Augsburg and Bayern witnessed a very exciting score chase. The away team won narrowly 3-2 to continue to hope to chase the top team Leverkusen.

With home advantage, Augsburg started the game confidently and caused many difficulties for Bayern. In the 5th minute, the home players thought that Matthijs de Ligt had handled the ball in Bayern's penalty area. However, after consulting VAR, the referee decided that there was no penalty.

In the 12th minute, Augsburg had another goal disallowed for offside. Elvis Rexhbecaj had the ball in the Bayern net but VAR confirmed that he had been offside.

In the following minutes, Bayern gradually regained control of the game and began to create more dangerous situations towards Augsburg's goal. In the 23rd minute, they had a goal to break the deadlock. Aleksandar Pavlovic quickly finished in the penalty area after a messy situation.

Conceding a goal, Augsburg continued to attack while Bayern actively kept the ball to reduce the opponent's excitement. At minute 45'+5, the Gray Tigers doubled the gap. Receiving the ball from Leon Goretzka, left-back Alphonso Davies made a beautiful long-range shot. The ball went into the lower left corner, surprising the Augsburg goalkeeper.

2-0 was the score of the first half. It was thought that having a safe gap would help Bayern play easily in the second half. However, on the contrary, they had to sweat to ensure victory.

In the 52nd minute, Ermedin Demirovic headed accurately into the bottom left corner of the goal, reducing the gap to 1-2 for the home team. But just 6 minutes later, Harry Kane restored the 2-goal gap for the Gray Tigers.

In the following minutes, Bayern took the initiative to keep the ball to save energy for the rest of the match. However, their complacency almost made them pay the price. Minute 87. Uduokhai fell in Bayern's penalty area and Augsburg was awarded a penalty. However, Sven Michel could not defeat Manuel Neuer on the 11m mark.

In the 90'+3 minute, the home team had another penalty and this time Demirovic made no mistake to defeat Neuer. However, the remaining time was too little for Augsburg to score another goal.

The final result of this match was 3-2 in favor of Bayern. The Gray Tigers got 3 important points to continue to follow Leverkusen in the 2023/24 Bundesliga championship race.

Sabalenka successfully defended her Australian Open title

Zheng Qinwen entered the 2024 Australian Open women's singles final with the excitement of Chinese fans in particular and Asian fans in general. They wanted to see another Asian player crowned in Melbourne exactly 10 years after Li Na did so.

However, Zheng's opponent, Aryna Sabalenka, is really too strong at this time. Not only did the Belarusian player win after only 2 sets against Zheng in the quarterfinals of the US Open 2023, her form and strength are really superior.

Before the final, Sabalenka spent just over 6 hours on 6 matches, while Zheng's journey lasted more than 11 hours. And even though the 12th seed is 4 years younger than Sabalenka, her experience in her first Grand Slam final clearly cannot compare to the defending champion.

That was proven through two details. One was that Sabalenka broke in the second game of set 1. Two was that in the following game, although Zheng had three chances to break serve, he failed to take advantage of them.

The gap was created too big and too fast (5-2), so despite having an impressive moment - saving 3 breaks in game 8, Sabalenka still closed set 1 with a score of 6-3 after 34 minutes.

Losing set 1 quickly, Zheng's mentality was greatly affected, shown by the fact that she made 3 double faults in the first game of set 2 and was broken.

Before the match, experts analyzed many of Sabalenka's weaknesses - such as her ability to go to the net or her long shots, however, it was really difficult for Zheng to exploit.

On the contrary, the Chinese player continued to make double faults when serving, and the opponent's terrifying momentum caused the final match to end quickly when the second set was even more distant - 6-2.