Coach Gong Oh Kyu officially finalizes the list of players attending the 2022 AFC U23 Championship; Messi shines, Argentina wins the Intercontinental Super Cup

Coach Gong Oh Kyu officially finalized the list of players attending the 2022 AFC U23 Championship Finals

Coach Gong Oh-kyun has decided to include Tran Van Cong in the official list of U23 Vietnam to participate in the 2022 U23 Asian Cup finals.

One day before the match against U23 Thailand, coach Gong Oh-kyun officially finalized the list of 23 U23 Vietnam players participating in the 2022 U23 Asian Cup finals.

Compared to the AFC list announced earlier, the Korean coach has made adjustments to the personnel.

Specifically, Tran Van Cong was added to the official list by Mr. Gong Oh-kyun to replace player Ha Trung Hau.

Trung Hau and Vu Minh Hieu will continue to stay and practice and be ready to perform their duties in case a player contracts COVID-19 according to the tournament regulations.

List of U23 Vietnam players attending the 2022 AFC U23 Championship. Source: VFF

With Trung Hau absent, the list of U23 Vietnam strikers only includes Nguyen Van Tung, Tran Danh Trung, Le Minh Binh, Nham Manh Dung and Nguyen Van Truong.

On the afternoon of June 1, the teamU23 Vietnamhad the last training session before officially entering the 2022 U23 Asia finals.

U23 Vietnam will begin their journey in Group C with a match against U23 Thailand at 10:00 p.m. on June 2.

Next, coach Gong Oh-kyun's team will face U23 Korea (8:00 p.m. June 5) and U23 Malaysia (8:00 p.m. June 8).

Messi shines, Argentina wins Intercontinental Super Cup

Messi shone with two assists to bring Argentina a resounding 3-0 victory over Italy, thereby winning the Intercontinental Super Cup Finalissima.

After 29 years, fans were treated to another Intercontinental Super Cup. Following their penalty shootout win over Denmark in 1993, Argentina beat another European side, this time Italy, 2-0 to win the trophy. Lautaro Martinez and Angel Di Maria scored the goals.

Argentina convincingly defeated Italy to win the Intercontinental Super Cup.

Goals: Lautaro Martinez (28'), Di Maria (45'+1), Dybala (90'+4)

Starting lineup:

Italy: Donnarumma, Di Lorenzo, Bonucci, Chiellini (Lazzari 46'), Emerson (Bastoni 77'), Barella, Jorginho, Pessina (Spinazzola 62'), Belotti (Scamacca 46'), Bernardeschi (Locatelli 46'), Raspadori

Argentina: Martinez, Molina, Romero (ezzella 85'), Otamendi, Tagliafico, De Paul (Palacios 76'), Rodriguez, Lautaro Martinez (Alvarez 85'), Messi, Lo Celso (Dybala 90'), Di Maria (Gonzalez 90').

The match ended with a 2-0 victory for Argentina. Albiceleste won the Super Cup Finalissima, Messi won his 2nd title with the tango dancers, and also the 40th title of his career.

Lingard officially leaves Man Utd after 22 years

Man United's homepage recently announced that Jesse Lingard will leave the club on a free transfer this summer, officially ending 22 years of association.

The England international joined the Red Devils at the age of nine and progressed through the club's academy before making his senior debut in 2011. He had four different loan spells at Leicester City, Birmingham City, Derby County and Brighton & Hove Albion, before returning to Man United.

After making 40 appearances in all competitions for United in 2015/16, Lingard earned his England debut in late 2016, starting in a 2-0 win over Malta. He continued to impress for the Red Devils and became a regular under Jose Mourinho as United won the League Cup and Europa League in 2016/17.

MU's official Twitter page posted a farewell announcement about Lingard.

The Red Devils paid tribute to Lingard with a lengthy statement on their official website about his 22-year journey with the club since joining as a youth player in 2000. The statement included all the highlights of Lingard's time at Man United.

"We would like to take this opportunity to thank Jesse for all the memories he has helped create during his two decades here and wish him the best of luck in his future career," the statement read.

There were some calls for Lingard to sign a permanent deal with West Ham last summer, but the attacking midfielder stayed and wanted to fight for his place at United. But he has failed to make the grade, playing second fiddle to the likes of Bruno Fernandes, Paul Pogba and Jadon Sancho.

Lingard was again linked with a move in January but it didn't work out. He made seven more Premier League appearances before United announced he would leave at the end of his contract. West Ham are now the most likely destination for Lingard, with Newcastle, Everton and Leeds also interested in the player who has 56 goals in 296 professional appearances.

Thailand U23 Coach: "Vietnam is on the same level as us"

Coach Worrawoot Srimaka assessed that the match between U23 Vietnam and U23 Thailand will be extremely fierce because the two sides are of equal level. Besides, U23 Vietnam and U23 Thailand are also strong candidates for the ticket to the quarterfinals.

Group C - the 2022 AFC U23 Championship finals includes U23 Korea, U23 Thailand, U23 Vietnam and U23 Malaysia. Based on their current abilities, U23 Thailand and U23 Vietnam will have to compete hard to get the second ticket of the group, in the context that U23 Korea is considered to be beyond their ability and is naturally guaranteed to be the top team.

More interestingly, U23 Vietnam and U23 Thailand met in the first round of the tournament. Speaking before the match, Coach Worrawoot Srimaka of U23 Thailand shared: “This is the best squad we have at the moment and U23 Thailand is completely ready to participate in the tournament. The players are eager to play, win, and conquer the continental arena. The first match with Vietnam is very important and will decide the ticket to the next round. The whole team will concentrate fully. Thailand and Vietnam are at the same level, so this will not be an easy match. I respect Vietnam very much and aim to get points in the next match.”

Coach Worrawoot Srimaka.

The Thai coach continued: “First of all, I congratulate U23 Vietnam for winning the Gold Medal at the 31st SEA Games, but my team has changed a lot compared to the SEA Games, so this tournament is a different story. I always consider Vietnam one of the top teams in Southeast Asia. However, in this group, we always aim to win against all opponents, whether it is Vietnam, Malaysia or Korea.

We have players from Europe, Thai players who play in countries with the world's top football. I am proud that they all have Thai blood in them, not 100% naturalized faces. I want to go back to 4 years ago when U23 Vietnam was the runner-up in the tournament and hope U23 Thailand will do the same in this year's tournament.

The first match with Vietnam is very important and will decide the ticket to the next round. The whole team will concentrate fully. Thailand and Vietnam are at the same level, so this will not be an easy match. I respect Vietnam very much and aim to get points in the next match."

The match between U23 Thailand and U23 Vietnam in the opening match of the 2022 AFC U23 Championship will take place at 10:00 p.m. (Vietnam time) on June 2.