HAGL and Ho Chi Minh City Club compete for the 'throne'; U20 Vietnam loses to third-place Japanese team
Winning 2-1 against Ho Chi Minh City Youth Club in the second round of the LPBank Four-Hero Cup; U20 Vietnam lost 0-1 to Imabari Club's youth team during a training trip in Japan. Those are the outstanding sports news in the past 24 hours.
LPBank Four-Hero Cup 2024: HAGL and Ho Chi Minh City Club compete for the "throne"
After beating Ho Chi Minh City Youth Club 2-1 in the second round of the LPBank Four-Hero Cup 2024 at Thong Nhat Stadium on the evening of August 27, HAGL Club will compete for the championship with Ho Chi Minh City Club.
With a star-studded squad that used to play in the V-League, the home team dominated their opponents and surprisingly opened the scoring in the 7th minute with a beautiful one-touch finish by midfielder Luong Thanh Ngoc Lam, born in 1998.
Controlling the ball thanks to a strong force, coach Vu Tien Thanh's team scored two goals, by Chau Ngoc Quang and Nguyen Quoc Viet, respectively, to determine the final result of 2-1.
With this result, HAGL and Ho Chi Minh City Club will play the "final" match to determine the champion of the LPBank 2024 Four-Hero Cup.
The world's most expensive goalkeeper chooses an unexpected destination
The world's most expensive goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga has just reached an agreement to join Bournemouth on loan from Chelsea.
This is a surprise because Kepa is currently the most expensive goalkeeper in the world and is being watched by many bigger clubs. Last year, Kepa played for Real Madrid on loan and won the Champions League.
The key to Kepa's decision was Bournemouth coach Andoni Iraola, who worked with him at Athletic Bilbao.
Kepa joined Chelsea from Bilbao in 2018 for 80 million euros. To date, the Spanish international remains the goalkeeper with the highest transfer fee in history.
U20 Vietnam lost to third-ranked Japanese team
On the afternoon of August 27, U20 Vietnam lost 0-1 to the youth team of Imabari Club during a training trip in Japan to prepare for the 2025 U20 Asia qualifiers.
The only goal conceded by U20 Vietnam against Imabari Club happened in the 5th minute when the defense did not have the necessary concentration. However, the U20 Vietnam players still performed well according to the coaching staff's requirements throughout the practice match.
After the match with Imabari on August 27, U20 Vietnam will have their final practice match in Japan with the Matsuyama University student team on August 30.
After finishing the training trip to Japan, U20 Vietnam will return home to play a friendly match with U20 Russia, then enter the 2025 U20 Asia qualifying campaign.
U20 Vietnam is the host of Group A of this qualifying round, taking place from September 21 to September 29 at Lach Tray Stadium, Hai Phong. The team will meet Bhutan, Guam, Bangladesh and Syria respectively.
