Vietnam Futsal ready for Asian Championship Finals; Harry Kane breaks a series of records

Vietnam Futsal is ready for the 2024 Asian Futsal Championship Finals

On March 9, the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) announced that in order to realize the goal of competing for a ticket to the Final round of the 2024 Futsal World Cup for the third time in history, the Vietnam Futsal Team has planned to carefully prepare for the Final round of the 2024 Asian Futsal Championship, taking place in Thailand from April 17 to 28.

Accordingly, the Vietnam Futsal Team with 19 players summoned will gather again in Ho Chi Minh City from March 11. This is the first training session of the Vietnam Futsal Team in 2024. The 2024 National Futsal Championship will start with 3 rounds before pausing to serve the team's training, helping coach Giustozzi Diego Raul have favorable conditions to observe the players' performance and find suitable additions.

The Vietnam Futsal team has the presence of outstanding factors such as the 2023 Futsal Golden Ball trio: Pham Duc Hoa, Chau Doan Phat, Ho Van Y, and also records the return of quality players such as Nguyen Hoang Anh Vu, Tran Nhat Trung, Nguyen Anh Duy...

In order to help the team have the best preparation before participating in the 2024 Asian Futsal Championship Finals, the Vietnam Football Federation has planned to organize the 2024 International Futsal Tournament, with the participation of the Vietnam Team and 3 very high-quality guest teams: Iran, Morocco and New Zealand.

After the end of this tournament, the Vietnam Futsal Team will continue to train domestically and have two more friendly matches against the Malaysian Futsal Team on April 6 and April 8.

On April 12, coach Giustozzi Diego Raul will finalize the official list of 14 players of the Vietnam Futsal Team to go to Thailand to participate in the 2024 Asian Futsal Championship, which is also the qualifying round for the 2024 Futsal World Cup.

At the 2024 AFC Futsal Championship Finals, the Vietnam Futsal Team is in the same group with Thailand (host), China and Myanmar. The goal of the Vietnam Futsal Team is to compete for one of the top two spots in the group to advance to the quarter-finals; then aim to reach the semi-finals to win a ticket to the 2024 Futsal World Cup Finals taking place in Uzbekistan.

Tuan Anh leaves HAGL, joins Nam Dinh Club

Midfielder Nguyen Tuan Anh said goodbye to HAGL Club and he will move to play for Nam Dinh Club from the second leg of V-League 2023/2024.

"Tuan Anh has finally decided to leave HAGL. This is something I never wanted," Coach Vu Tien Thanh said at the press conference after the match between HAGL and Ho Chi Minh City Club.

The destination of the midfielder born in 1995 is Nam Dinh Club. In fact, Tuan Anh had been contacted by the team from Thanh Nam before, but he did not make a hasty decision. Nguyen Tuan Anh thought for the past 2 weeks before accepting to part ways with the team from the mountain town.

Coach Vu Tien Thanh said Tuan Anh’s departure from HAGL was a loss for the mountain town team. Tuan Anh played an important role as captain and HAGL struggled with the relegation battle.

However, Mr. Thanh believes that Tuan Anh coming to Nam Dinh Club will help this midfielder have more opportunities to develop, reducing the risk of injury due to having to compete continuously.

Manchester United beat Everton with 2 penalties

Manchester United found joy again after two consecutive defeats in the Premier League with a 2-0 victory over Everton right at home at Old Trafford.

Manchester United ended a run of two consecutive defeats in the Premier League with a 2-0 win over Everton in the earliest match of round 28.

Alejandro Garnacho did not score directly but contributed greatly to the victory when he brought home two penalty kicks in the first half.

In the 10th minute, the referee awarded a penalty to MU after Garnacho was fouled by defender James Tarkowski in the penalty area.

On the 11m mark, Bruno Fernandes did not miss the opportunity to score the opening goal 1-0 in the 12th minute for Manchester United.

In the 34th minute, Garnacho won the second penalty after being fouled by Godfrey. This time, Marcus Rashford easily defeated goalkeeper Jordan Pickford to double the gap for the home team.

2-0 in favor of Manchester United was also the final result of this match when both teams did not score any more goals in the rest of the match.

With this victory, coach Erik ten Hag's team has 47 points after 28 matches, solidifying the 6th position they are holding.

However, the Red Devils are still eight points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa in the Premier League, but have played one game more.

Harry Kane breaks a series of records

Striker Harry Kane continues to conquer unprecedented milestones after scoring a hat-trick against Mainz.

The England captain scored a hat-trick and also provided an assist in Bayern's 8-1 win over Mainz on Saturday. He has now scored or assisted 46 times this season, more than any other player in Europe's top five leagues.

Kane's hat-trick against Mainz also helped him score at least three goals in four Bundesliga games since the start of the campaign. Statistically, no other player has scored four hat-tricks in their first Bundesliga season.

Kane is also the first player to score two or more goals in eight different games in his debut Bundesliga season. The previous record was set by Uwe Seeler and Friedhelm Konietzka in the 1963/64 campaigns and Toni Polster in the 1993/94 season.

The 30-year-old's goals and assists have been key to Bayern overcoming another poor season for the Bundesliga champions. Kane has scored 36 goals and provided 10 assists in 33 appearances in all competitions, 30 of which have come in 25 Bundesliga games.

The German top flight's record for goals scored in a single season is 41 by Robert Lewandowski in the 2020/21 season and with nine more games to go, Kane could well be on course to surpass this historic milestone.

Neymar becomes redundant

Al Hilal reached a record milestone of 27 consecutive wins in all competitions without Neymar.

On March 8, Al Hilal came from behind to win 3-1 against Al Riyadh in the 23rd round of the Saudi Arabian Premier League. This was the 27th consecutive win for Ruben Neves and his teammates in all competitions, thereby equaling the world record set by The New Saints of Wales in the 2016/17 season.

Notably, the number 1 team in the Saudi Pro League achieved the above achievement without the services of Neymar. The Brazilian superstar has been out of action due to injury since October 2023. "Neymar has become redundant," wrote Goal.

With their current form, Al Hilal could break the record for the longest winning streak in world history. They are leading the Saudi Pro League with a 12-point lead over Al Nassr, having beaten Al Ittihad 2-0 in the first leg of their AFC Champions League quarter-final and are set to face Al Nassr in the semi-finals of the Saudi Super Cup.

Neymar is having a disappointing season. The former Barcelona player suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament and torn meniscus in his left knee when Brazil lost 0-2 to Uruguay in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in October 2023. He had to undergo surgery and was diagnosed with a season-long absence.

In the summer of 2023, the Brazilian superstar left PSG to join Al Hilal for 90 million Euros. However, things took a turn for the worse. He only played 5 matches for his new club before getting injured.

In 2023 alone, Neymar underwent surgery twice. Doctors diagnosed that Neymar may miss the Copa America in the summer of 2024.