FIFA recognizes Vietnam national team's record before Asian Cup; PSG advances, Marseille suffers shocking loss
(Baonghean.vn) - Many surprises after 2 days of competition at the Asian Cup; Thailand fires coach Rajevac; results of the 1/32 round of the 2018/19 French National Cup; Messi rises to the top of the European Golden Shoe race... are today's attractive domestic and international sports news.
FIFA recognizes Vietnam National Team's record of 18 unbeaten matches
This information was released from the FIFA homepage as well as the social networking sites of the world football authority. On the official website it is written: "Vietnam national team participated in the 2019 Asian Cup as the team with the longest unbeaten streak (18 matches). In September 2017, Vietnam ranked 130th in the world and after 1 year, the Vietnam team rose to the top 100 for the first time since 2012".
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FIFA recognizes Vietnam's 18-match unbeaten record. |
The most recent defeat for Vietnam was against Indonesia in the first leg of the AFF Cup 2016 semi-finals (1-2) on December 7, 2016. Since then, the Vietnam team has maintained an unbeaten record of 18 matches, most recently a 4-2 victory in a friendly match against the Philippines before the 2019 Asian Cup.
This is quite surprising information, because the friendly match with the Philippines was only an internal practice match. However, FIFA still recognized it as an international friendly match.
Van Lam confirmed to move to Muangthong United
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After finishing the 2019 ASIAN Cup in the Vietnamese national team jersey, Dang Van Lam will officially debut at Muangthong United. Photo: Character provided |
Yesterday, goalkeeper Van Lam's representative - Andrey Grushin officially spoke up: "The contract has been completed. Dang Van Lam will move to Thai League. This is a big step forward in his career. The specific transfer amount will be revealed after the official contract is announced at the launch and signing ceremony in Bangkok after the 2019 ASIAN Cup".
In fact, Muangthong United Club and Van Lam and his representative Andrey Grushin have reached an agreement on a 3-year contract, starting from the 2019 season. In addition to the house, private car and salary of more than 10,000 USD/month, Dang Van Lam will also receive a separate bonus like any other Muangthong player, depending on the team's performance at the end of the season in the Thai League.
According to research, the amount of money Muangthong spent to buy back Van Lam's 1-year contract at the Hai Phong team was not 3 billion or 6 billion VND as some sources reported, but up to 500,000 USD.
Thailand fires coach Rajevac after shocking 1-4 loss to India
Thailand lost 1-4 to India in the opening match of the 2019 Asian Cup despite the return of stars playing abroad. After this match, the Football Association of Thailand decided to fire coach Milovan Rajevac.
The 65-year-old Serbian coach has been disappointing since Thailand was eliminated by Malaysia in the 2018 AFF Cup semi-finals. Thailand's crushing defeat to India was the last straw, forcing the Thai Football Federation to end its cooperation with this coach.
Assistant coach Sirisak Yodyardthai will be the interim coach of the Thai team for their remaining matches at the 2019 Asian Cup.
Asian Cup 2019 Results: Many surprises after 2 days of competition
In Group A, with a huge advantage of playing at home, UAE had to struggle to hold Bahrain to a 1-1 draw thanks to a controversial penalty on the opening day. On the second day, Thailand was rated higher but suffered a 1-4 defeat against India.
This result puts the Thai team in a difficult position ahead. Meanwhile, India took the top spot with 3 absolute points and has a great chance to win a ticket to the next round.
Meanwhile, in Group B, defending champions Australia unexpectedly stumbled when they were shocked by a 0-1 loss to Jordan. This was a surprising result when Australia was on a 4-match unbeaten streak, including a 5-0 thrashing of Oman a few days before the 2019 Asian Cup.
In the other match of this group, Syria and Palestine drew 0-0. This was the first match without a goal since the beginning of the tournament. Not only that, Mohammed Saleh of Palestine became the first player to receive a red card at the 2019 Asian Cup finals.
At the end of the opening match of Group B, Jordan is leading with 3 points, Palestine and Syria are right behind with 1 point each while Australia is at the bottom with 0 points.
Messi takes the lead in the European Golden Shoe race
Lionel Messi's opening goal against Getafe was his 16th goal in La Liga this season. Thus, Messi is still leading the list of top scorers in La Liga 2018/19.
Not only that, the above goal also helped Messi rise up the European Golden Shoe rankings. Thanks to 16 goals (and the coefficient of the top 5 European national championships including La Liga, Premier League, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Serie A is 2), Messi has 32 points and rose to the number 1 position.
The next positions in the current top 5 European Golden Boots belong to players from other European leagues such as Liliu of Nomme Kalju Club (Estonia, 31 goals - 31 points); Mbaye Diagne (Kasimpasa, Türkiye with 20 goals - 30 points); Zakaria Beglarishvili (FC Flora Tallinn, Estonia with 30 goals - 30 points) and Paulinho (BK Hacken, Sweden with 20 goals - 30 points).
Ranking from 7th to 9th are the leading strikers in Serie A and the Premier League. That is the case of Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus), Harry Kane (Tottenham) and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal) with 14 shots on target each.
MU unexpectedly negotiates to sign Philippe Coutinho
Caughtoffside broke the news that MU opened negotiations to make a shocking transfer - bringing Philippe Coutinho from Barcelona back to the Premier League.
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MU announced to open negotiations to sign Coutinho |
MU, Chelsea, Man City and PSG are the big clubs waiting for Coutinho if the Brazilian midfielder leaves Barca. However, according to the above source, the Red Devils are taking advantage of "backstabbing" in order to win the race for Coutinho.He is considered the ideal replacement for Alexis Sanchez, a disappointing signing under Mourinho.
It is expected that MU will have to spend about 100 million pounds if they really want to bring Coutinho back to the Premier League, and eliminate opponents like Chelsea and Man City.
Real Madrid successfully recruited Brahim Diaz from Man City
Brahim Abdelkader Diaz is 19 years old. He can play well as an attacking midfielder or a winger. The 1m70 tall boy has returned to his native Spain 5 years after leaving Malaga to join Man City in England.
Real Madrid confirmed that the team has signed 19-year-old talent Brahim Abdelkader Diaz from Man City under a contract until June 2025. The Royal team also has to pay a transfer fee of 17 million euros to Man City. In addition, Diaz will also receive a salary of 3.5 million euros/year.
In addition, Man City will receive 15% of the transfer value if Real sells Diaz in the future and receive 40% of the transfer value in case the partner sells this young talent to the same city club Man United.
Paul Pogba will not go to Dubai to train with MU
Paul Pogba was absent when MU flew to Dubai for training 4 days after the 2-0 win over Reading in the 3rd round of the FA Cup. The reason is that the French star is having to treat an injury, after being "hit" continuously in MU's 2-0 win over Newcastle.
PSG advance, Marseille lose shockingly
While Monaco and PSG have tickets to the next round of 32 of the 2018/19 French National Cup, Bordeaux and Marseille both had to stop early against opponents that were rated lower.
Despite playing away against the unknown team Pontivy GSI, PSG had to wait until the 24th minute to find the opening goal thanks to an own goal by Pontivy GSI's Sule. In the 70th minute, Neymar doubled the gap for PSG. Mbappe (77') and Draxler (87') scored in turn to help PSG complete a 4-0 victory at Stade Yves Allainmat - Le Moustoir.
French National Cup round of 32 results
Canet Roussillon 0-1 Monaco
Andrézieux 2-0 Marseille
Strasbourg 0-6 Saint-Étienne
Toulouse 4-1 Nice
Bordeaux 0-1 Le Havre
Pontivy GSI 0-4 PSG
Unlike Monaco and PSG, Bordeaux and Marseille seem to be uninterested in the National Cup arena after falling to lower-ranked teams Le Havre and Andrézieux.
