Vietnam and France national teams lifting the Gold Cup are among the 7 outstanding sporting events of 2018.

1. Vietnam entered the final of U23 Asia.From being compared to the underdogs, Park Hang-seo and his team wrote a fairy tale in the tournament in Changzhou, China.

Vietnam’s preparations for the tournament in January have not received much attention. In silence, Mr. Park and his team have built a basic foundation of physical strength, solidarity and organization in a defensive counter-attacking style of play characterized by a three-center-back formation, which is new to Vietnamese football.

After losing to South Korea in the opening match, Vietnam shocked Australia with a 1-0 victory and then drew 0-0 with Syria to advance to the group stage. With an indomitable spirit, Vietnam successively dragged Iraq (quarter-final) and Qatar (semi-final) into extra time and then finished them off in a penalty shootout. In the final match in the snow against Uzbekistan, Mr. Park's team lost 1-2 due to a goal conceded in the last minute of the second extra time. In that match, Quang Hai scored the most beautiful goal of the tournament, dubbed "Rainbow in the Snow". The 1m66 tall player was also Vietnam's biggest inspiration in the tournament with five goals.

The victory of U23 Vietnam resonated throughout Asia, and thrilled the hearts of domestic fans. Hundreds of thousands of people poured into the streets of Hanoi to welcome the team back. The 6-hour open-top bus parade left an unprecedented impression in the history of national sports.

With this core, Vietnam made its mark at Asiad (August, Indonesia).After beating all three opponents in the group stage, including Japan, Coach Park and his team defeated Bahrain and Syria with the same score of 1-0. In the semi-finals, the team only lost to South Korea.

In the bronze medal match, Vietnam dominated UAE, but were unlucky in the penalty shootout and finished fourth overall. Although they could not win a medal, Vietnam can still be proud of reaching the semi-finals for the first time. This is also the only Southeast Asian team to make it past the round of 16 at the tournament. In the media, many fans in the region called them "the pride of the region".

2. Winter Olympics in Korea.The symbol of unity between the two Koreas and Russia's doping scandal.

Despite tensions between the two countries, North Korea sent athletes and a cheering squad to Pyeongchang, which ran from February 9 to 25. The image of North and South Korean athletes marching together under a unified flag at the opening ceremony became a symbol of reconciliation between the two countries on the Korean peninsula, a scene last seen at the 2006 Winter Olympics. The two countries later formed an alliance to form a women's hockey team.

This Games is also remembered for Russia's doping troubles. According to the decision of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), a series of sports and athletes from Russia were not allowed to participate because of their involvement in underground programs, which allowed the use of doping by the government many years ago. Only athletes with clean records and who accepted the IOC's commitments were allowed to compete as independents. In total, there were 168 such athletes, winning 2 gold medals, 6 silver medals and 9 bronze medals.

3. Real continues to dominate the Champions League. The Spanish team won the world's most prestigious club tournament for the third consecutive time.

After finishing second in the group stage behind Tottenham, Real showed their dominance in the knockout stages against PSG, Juventus and Bayern Munich. Facing Liverpool, full of enthusiasm after many years of returning to the final, coach Zinedine Zidane's team won 3-1 with a double from Gareth Bale. That was the 13th C1/Champions League title in Real's history. Before them, no club had won this tournament twice in a row in the Champions League era.

Shortly after the season ended, coach Zidane resigned, and Cristiano Ronaldo joined Juventus for $126 million - a record fee for a player over 30. After 9 years with Real, Ronaldo became a legend with 451 goals in 438 matches, winning 16 titles - including four Champions League. He also won four Golden Balls and three European Golden Boots.

4. France won the World Cup.20 years after winning the championship at home, the blue team once again won the World Cup.

With a generation of young and talented players such as Kylian Mbappe, Paul Pogba, N'Golo Kante or Antoine Griezmann... Didier Deschamps' team raced to the top after six wins and one draw. On that journey, they eliminated a series of names such as Argentina, Uruguay, Belgium and finally the "dark horse" Croatia. The victory in Russia brought France to equal Argentina and Uruguay in terms of the number of championships (2 times). Deschamps also became the third person to win the World Cup as both a player and a coach.

In what could be their last World Cup appearance, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi both failed to make it to the round of 16. This is part of the reason why the Golden Ball award slipped out of the hands of the superstar duo for the first time in 10 years. The one who broke the monopoly was Luka Modric (Croatia) - also the winner of the 2018 World Cup Best Player award.

5. Hanoi announced the decision to host F1.Vietnam will be the third Southeast Asian country in racing history to host a Formula 1 race, after Malaysia and Singapore.

After much speculation, in early November, Hanoi announced its decision to host a Formula 1 race. The first race is scheduled for April 2020. Initially, Hanoi planned to build a racetrack around Hoan Kiem Lake and some nearby roads. However, after consideration and consultation with the race owner, Liberty Media, the race will take place at the My Dinh Sports Center. The organization's funding will be sponsored by a large domestic corporation.

This event is expected to be an opportunity to promote the image of Hanoi as well as the whole country. Along with two excellent racers today, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, other famous figures such as Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo or even the son of the legendary Michael Schumacher - Mick Schumacher - are expected to appear in Vietnam in 2020 with the most advanced racing cars.

6. Vietnam Football Federation has a new President.After many events and delays, in early December, the VFF Congress for the 2018-2022 term was held and witnessed many changes in personnel.

The 8th term congress was scheduled to take place in April, but was repeatedly postponed due to the continuous appearance of denunciations, controversies and scandals surrounding the candidates. Typical examples include the battle between Mr. Doan Nguyen Duc and the candidate for Vice President of Finance Tran Anh Tu, the recording of Mr. Tran Manh Hung with the deputy head of the VFF referee board Duong Van Hien, and Vice President of Communications Nguyen Xuan Gu going to a motel... Only when the leaders of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism introduced Deputy Minister Le Khanh Hai to run for the position of President of VFF, did the battles calm down.

During the Congress, which lasted from morning until late at night on December 8, Mr. Hai was elected as Chairman in a one-horse race, Mr. Tran Quoc Tuan was re-elected as Vice Chairman in charge of professional affairs, Mr. Cao Van Chong as Vice Chairman of Communications, and Mr. Can Van Nghia as Vice Chairman of Finance, despite being involved in a tax debt scandal of hundreds of billions of dong and also being the Director of the My Dinh National Sports Complex.

7. Vietnam won the AFF Cup.The peak year of Vietnamese football ended with the Cup at the Southeast Asian Nations Championship on December 15.

After the great success in the U23 Asian Cup and the Asian Games, Vietnam entered this year's tournament with the expectation of making a miracle from millions of fans. Despite the controversy about the appearance of Van Quyet or the position of Xuan Truong in the midfield, the team went straight to the final in an upper hand: undefeated in the group stage, not even conceding a goal, defeating the Philippines of the famous coach Sven-Goran Eriksson with a score of 4-2 after two matches in the semi-finals.

In the first leg of the final, Vietnam drew 2-2 at Bukit Jalil Stadium in Malaysia after leading by two goals. That slight advantage pushed the excitement of the fans to the peak. Tickets for the second leg of the final at My Dinh Stadium became hotly sought after, with prices on the black market dozens of times higher than the listed price.

On a beautiful evening at My Dinh, Vietnam defeated Malaysia 1-0 thanks to Anh Duc's volley to win the championship with a total score of 3-2. The championship after 10 years of waiting brought an overwhelming emotion to millions of fans. The streets across the country were like a festival, when the whole nation poured out to celebrate. Mr. Park was considered a hero of Vietnamese football after only one year of working together. He also became "Person of the Year" voted by the Korean Press Association.

Coach Park Hang-seo evaluates opponents at Asian Cup 2019; Former Long An coach becomes Indonesia coach

(Baonghean.vn) - Sharing the reason for not calling Anh Duc and Van Quyet to attend the 2019 Asian Cup, Coach Park commented on Iraq, Iran and Yemen; The 2010 AFF Cup final showed signs of "match-fixing"; Quang Hai was in the Top 5 nominees for the 2018 Fair Play award; Tottenham confirmed Son Heung Min's return to Korea to attend the Asian Cup are some of the interesting news about Southeast Asian football today.