Vietnam Futsal continues to stick with coach Diego Giustozzi; Man United loses hope of competing for the Premier League Top 4

Vietnam Futsal continues to work with coach Diego Giustozzi

Vice President of the Vietnam Football Federation Tran Anh Tu said that the Vietnam Football Federation extended the contract with the head coach of the Vietnam futsal team even though the team did not win a ticket to the 2024 Futsal World Cup. Accordingly, the contract with the Argentine strategist was extended until April 2026.

Coming to Vietnam, one of the goals set for Mr. Diego Giustozzi was to win a ticket to the 2024 Futsal World Cup. However, the Vietnamese futsal team just lost to Kyrgyzstan in the play-off match with a score of 2-3, thereby, no longer having the opportunity to participate in the upcoming tournament in Uzbekistan.

Although he did not achieve the expected results, coach Diego Giustozzi is still highly regarded for his expertise. The mark that this coach has shown in the Vietnam futsal team is very large with strong attacks. At the 2024 Asian Futsal Championship, the Vietnam futsal team played on par with strong opponents like Uzbekistan.

However, injuries during the preparation process caused the Vietnam futsal team to lose players with good scoring ability, including Pivo Minh Tri. Therefore, scoring goals is the weakest link of the Vietnam futsal team. The number of 6 goals after 5 matches is proof.

With the contract extension until April 2026, coach Diego Giustozzi has more time to build a playing style for the Vietnam futsal team.

Football friendly between former Vietnamese and Brazilian stars

On the evening of April 27, a friendly match between Brazilian and Vietnamese legends within the framework of the 2024 Brazil - Vietnam Football Festival took place at Hoa Xuan Stadium.

The visiting team Brazil took the field with the following players: Kleberson, Giovanni, Edmilson, Paulo Sergio, Rivaldo, Ze Carlos, Igor, Renan, Wallace, Andrey, Vitor, Diogo, Caio, Alex Sandro... belonging to the golden generation of Brazilian football, having won the World Cup in 1994 and 2002. The most prominent was the famous player Rivaldo, the owner of the 1999 World Golden Ball.

The all-star squad is led by coach Dunga. He is a talented strategist, leading the Brazilian team in two periods 2006 - 2010 and 2014 - 2016.

The host Vietnam team has a team of football stars from many different generations, led by the coaching staff including Mr. Phan Thanh Hung and Mr. Truong Van Loi.

The Vietnamese team on the field includes the following faces: Huynh Duc, Hong Son, Cong Vinh, Minh Phuong, Quoc Anh, Phuoc Vinh, Tien Linh, Que Ngoc Hai, Cong Minh, Phuong Nam, Duong Hong Son, Le Hong Duc, Doan Hung Son...

Notably, there is the return of striker Le Cong Vinh - the best striker of the Vietnamese team, who scored 51 goals in his career before retiring in 2016.

This is also a rare reappearance of Le Huynh Duc, Nguyen Minh Phuong, Nguyen Hong Son, Huynh Quoc Anh and Chau Le Phuoc Vinh...

Accompanying the seniors are the current generation of players such as Nguyen Tien Linh, Que Ngoc Hai and some guests such as 2013 Asian freestyle football champion Do Kim Phuc, streamer Do Mixi...

The players gave the audience many beautiful plays. The "Samba dancers" such as Rivaldo, Kleberson, Ze Carlos continuously dominated the goal of the famous Vietnamese players. At the end of the match, the visiting team Brazil won with a score of 7-1.

Man United loses hope of competing for Premier League Top 4

In round 35 of the 2023/24 Premier League, Man Utd, despite having home advantage, only managed a 1-1 draw against second-to-last placed Burnley. Andre Onana played brilliantly for most of the match, but turned into a villain at the end of the match, causing the Red Devils to earn a bitter point.

It can be said that fans witnessed two faces of Man Utd in the first half. In the first half, or about 22 minutes, the Red Devils played with great enthusiasm. The home team continuously bombarded Burnley's goal, almost leaving the opponent with no way to defend. A series of dangerous opportunities were created by Man Utd, but Garnacho, Antony and Eriksen all missed them.

However, somehow, Man Utd started to lose control of the game from the 23rd minute onwards. Like many other matches, the Red Devils' defense system played like an "empty house and empty garden" strategy. Burnley's attacks were very simple but easily penetrated the home team's defense, putting Andre Onana's goal on red alert. And if it weren't for the extraordinary brilliance of the Cameroon player, Man Utd would have had to pick the ball out of the net.

In the second half, Man Utd tried to push up their attacking formation to find a goal. In the 50th minute, Garnacho dribbled the ball close to the touchline and then passed it back to Antony. However, in the 5m50 box, the former Ajax star's shot was too weak, causing the opportunity to pass. In the 79th minute, Antony finally shined when he won the ball from Burnley's wrong pass, ran into the penalty area and scored a tricky cross-angle shot to open the score.

However, Man Utd's joy did not last long because in the 87th minute, goalkeeper Onana fouled a Burnley player in the penalty area. On the 11-meter mark, Zeki Amdouni made no mistake in scoring the equalizer for Burnley. 1-1 was also the final score of the match at Old Trafford. This result left Man Utd stuck in 6th place with 54 points, 6 points behind 5th-placed Tottenham, almost losing hope of entering the Top 4 this season.

Harry Kane makes history

On the evening of April 27 (Hanoi time), Harry Kane continued to show his brilliant form when he helped Bayern Munich defeat Frankfurt 2-1 in round 31 of the Bundesliga.

Bayern Munich "surrendered" to Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga title race, but Harry Kane has no rival in the individual battle. The English striker continued to maintain his impressive scoring ability when scoring twice against Frankfurt.

Kane set a record by becoming the first player in history to score or assist against every team he faced in his first season in the Bundesliga.

The 30-year-old striker has scored 42 goals and provided 13 assists for Bayern Munich in all competitions. Including his professional career, Kane has reached 400 goals for both club and country.

Kane now has 35 goals in the Bundesliga, 10 more than Serhou Guirassy and is almost certain to win the Golden Boot. In the last 3 rounds, Kane needs to score 7 more goals to break the record of 41 goals set by Robert Lewandowski in the 2020/21 season.

Kane is good but Bayern are going through an unstable season. They have continuously failed in many arenas. The Champions League is the last resort for Kane to reap the first title of his football career.

He and Bayern are preparing to host Real Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals taking place in the early morning of May 1 (Hanoi time).

Unknown striker breaks out in the race for La Liga's top scorer

The goal against Las Palmas in round 33 of La Liga on April 27 helped Artem Dovbyk reach 19 goals in the 2023/24 season.

Dovbyk is becoming a bargain for Girona FC. Recruited by the Catalan club for only 7 million euros in the summer of 2023, the Ukrainian striker is surprising fans with his impressive performance.

To date, Dovbyk has 19 goals in La Liga, leading the list of top scorers in the Spanish top flight. His number of goals is 2 goals more than the second-placed player, Jude Bellingham. Unlike Dovbyk, Bellingham was recruited by Real Madrid for 103 million euros.

At the Estadio de Gran Canaria in Las Palmas, Dovbyk was the author of the goal that sealed the 2-0 score for Girona FC. According to Opta, the 26-year-old striker is currently in the top 5 players to reach the milestone of 19 goals fastest in La Liga in the 21st century.

Dovbyk only needed 31 matches to score 19 goals in La Liga. The leader in this achievement is Cristiano Ronaldo (23 matches). Radamel Falcao (24 matches), Robert Lewandowski (28 matches), Julio Baptista (29 matches) are ranked next.