Hoang Anh Gia Lai has special plans for 16-year-old striker; World Cup idea with 64 teams strongly opposed
Hoang Anh Gia Lai has a special plan for a 16-year-old striker; Another overseas Vietnamese player "caught the eye" of coach Kim Sang-sik; The idea of a 64-team World Cup was strongly opposed... are notable sports news in the past 24 hours.
Aston Villa eliminated despite beating PSG
In the early morning of April 16, Aston Villa defeated PSG 3-2 but was still eliminated with a total score of 5-4 in the Champions League quarter-finals.
The second leg of the quarter-final at Villa Park was dramatic from start to finish. PSG started impressively and took a 2-0 lead in less than 30 minutes. However, Aston Villa still refused to give up. Marcus Rashford and his teammates rose strongly and scored 3 goals in a row between the end of the first half and the beginning of the second half.
The Premier League representative created many opportunities but could not take advantage of them, and then lost 4-5 after 2 matches. Coach Luis Enrique and his team struggled to reach the semi-finals, while Aston Villa can be proud of what they have achieved in their first participation in the Champions League.
Starting lineup:
Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne, Kamara, Tielemans, McGinn, Onana, Rashford, Rogers
PSG: Donnarumma; Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Mendes; Ruiz, Vitinha, Neves; Barcola, Dembele, Kvaratskhelia.
Goals: Tielemans 34', McGinn 55', Konsa 58' - Hakimi 11', Mendes 28'.
Hoang Anh Gia Lai has special plans for 16-year-old striker
Technical director Vu Tien Thanh revealed the plan to use Tran Gia Bao in the V-League.
According to Technical Director Vu Tien Thanh, right after returning from the national team, Gia Bao only rested for 1 day before proactively asking to practice with Hoang Anh Gia Lai Club: "Gia Bao is a great talent of Hoang Anh Gia Lai and Vietnamese football. He only rested for 1 day after returning fromVietnam U17, then proactively called to ask to practice with the guys. Such a progressive spirit is very valuable in a young player."
With his current form, Gia Bao is in the plan to use in the upcoming matches of V-League 2024/25 of the Mountain City team. Mr. Vu Tien Thanh shared with the domestic media: "We will create conditions for Gia Bao to play. When the team is stable in terms of points, we will limit the use of foreign players to give opportunities to young players."
Tran Gia Bao is a notable young talent in V-League 2024/2025. This 16-year-old striker has played 3 times for Hoang Anh Gia Lai and scored 1 goal. This young star is expected to play more in the mountain town team and is predicted to make great progress if trained properly.
Another Vietnamese-American player "caught the eye" of coach Kim Sang-sik
Aymeric Faurand Tournaire and Do Chung, two players of Vietnamese blood playing in Europe, have just shone to bring good news to Vietnamese football ahead of the 33rd SEA Games.
Aymeric Faurand Tournaire is considered a potential striker with a modern playing style, speed, and good personal technique. Faurand can play flexibly in the attack, in positions such as center forward, striker or right striker. In the 2024/25 season, Faurand Tournaire was promoted to the first team of Stade Laval Club and participated in Ligue 2. If he already had Vietnamese nationality, Aymeric Faurand Tournaire could completely catch the eye of coach Kim Sang Sik in the Vietnamese national teams.
Besides Faurand Tournaire, Nguyen Do Chung - a player with 100% Vietnamese blood also shined brightly. At the age of 20, Do Chung played 23/29 matches for Slavia Sofia in the 2024/25 season. This midfielder is a player who recovers the ball and regulates the game with great potential. He has 100% Vietnamese blood, eligible for Vietnamese citizenship.
The brilliance of these two players has given many options to the team.Coach Kim Sang-sik in preparation for the 33rd SEA Games.
The idea of a 64-team World Cup is strongly opposed.
The 2030 World Cup celebrates the 100th anniversary of the tournament's inception and is scheduled to be held in 6 countries including Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
Recently, the President of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) Alejandro Dominguez officially proposed increasing the number of participating teams to 64. According to Mr. Dominguez, this change will make the 100th anniversary of the World Cup more unique "because people only celebrate 100 years once", and that "this allows all countries to have the opportunity to experience the most prestigious tournament in the world".
However, the proposal of the President of CONMEBOL immediately faced a wave of opposition. Most recently, President of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Football (CONCACAF) Victor Montagliani shared his opinion with ESPN: "I do not believe that expanding the World Cup to 64 teams is the right move for the tournament itself and the football ecosystem in general. We have not even started the new World Cup with 48 teams (from the 2026 World Cup). Therefore, the proposal to increase the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams should not be on the agenda."
The CONCACAF representative's opinion is similar to that of UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin, who previously spoke out against the idea.
Meanwhile, President of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Sheikh Salman also indirectly expressed his opposition, expressing concern that expanding the number of teams would lead to chaos.
Many experts oppose the "hot" increase in the number of World Cup places, saying that this will "trivialize" the quality and prestige of the most prestigious football tournament on the planet. Even the increase from the traditional 32 teams to 48 teams from the 2026 tournament has met with many disagreements.
Experts say that the CONMEBOL President's idea still has a long way to go before it is approved.
Chelsea leads Premier League in spending money on "brokers"
The Premier League has just released the latest statistics showing that the top English football teams have spent a total of 409.1 million pounds on player agents this season, a figure that is only slightly down from last season (409.5 million pounds).
Chelsea continue to lead the list with a huge spending of £60.3 million, although it is down £15 million compared to last season. Since being bought by billionaire Todd Boehly in April 2022, the Stamford Bridge team has spent up to £179 million on agent fees alone.
This figure reflects Chelsea's "spending money freely" policy under Boehly. In three years, The Blues have spent more than 1.5 billion pounds on recruiting players and nearly 200 million pounds in just the last two transfer windows.
Right behind Chelsea is Man City with 52.1 million pounds - significantly more than the same city team Man Utd (33 million pounds). The top 5 teams also spend the most money including Aston Villa (25.1 million pounds) and Newcastle (24.4 million pounds), while Arsenal and Liverpool spend 22.8 million and 20.8 million pounds respectively.
West Ham (£19 million), Tottenham (£18.4 million) and Brighton (£16.5 million) also made the top 10. On the other hand, Ipswich Town – a team facing relegation – was the most "frugal" club with only £6.3 million spent on player agents.
These figures once again show that financial weight is increasingly playing a decisive role in the top competition in the Premier League./.
