Coach Kim called Nguyen Xuan Son just to be a… reserve?; European stars help Japan defeat Ghana

Coach Kim called Nguyen Xuan Son just to be a… reserve?

Nguyen Xuan Son returned to the Vietnam team after more than 10 months of injury. Whether the "evil spirit" of the Vietnam team will truly become a nightmare for Laos like it once haunted Thailand, Myanmar... is an open question.

With Nguyen Xuan Son, the path to victory for the Vietnamese team is wide open. In fact, the task of a striker in modern football is not only to "station" around the 16.50 meter area to shoot at the opponent's goal. They also have to act as a "magnet" to attract the defense, stretch the opponent's defenders so that their teammates have space in front of the goal, thereby making it easier to shoot.

The striker must also play the role of a “passer” to create for the opponent. In other words, the model of the modern football center forward in the 3-striker formation is both served by his teammates and must serve his teammates, not having the privilege of being “set the table” by his teammates as before.

Xuan Son possesses all of those comprehensive qualities. Praising his outstanding achievements in a collective victory may be considered excessive, but it is an undeniable truth. Therefore, when this striker returned, fans and experts were secretly happy, especially after 2 rather deadlocked matches of the Vietnamese team, even against a weaker opponent, Nepal.

These days, Xuan Son has returned to training as normal as his teammates in the Vietnamese national team. Who can ignore the moves of this naturalized striker, but there is one person who always keeps an eye on every move of Nguyen Xuan Son, that is coach Kim. He has to calculate and carefully evaluate Nguyen Xuan Son's ability to play because the Brazilian player suffered a broken leg, had to undergo surgery and has not played a single minute in the past 11 months.

With that injury, Mr. Kim must definitely make a detailed assessment and consult thoroughly with the medical team to make the most correct decision about using Xuan Son.

ASEAN Cup 2026 held in summer, Vietnam team faces difficulties

The Southeast Asian Football Federation (AFF) decided to hold the ASEAN Cup 2026 in the summer, posing a challenge to the Vietnamese team in their journey to defend the championship title.

Accordingly, the qualifying matches for the 2026 ASEAN Cup will take place on June 2 and 9, respectively. The group stage matches will take place from July 24 to August 8, the semi-finals will take place from August 15, and the second leg of the final will take place on August 26. Thus, the group stage of the ASEAN Cup will take place immediately after the 2026 World Cup ends (from June 11 to July 19).

In recent years, the ASEAN Cup (formerly the AFF Cup) has often taken place at the end of the year. In the 2024 ASEAN Cup, the tournament will be held in early 2025 with two finals. The Vietnamese team won the championship cup after defeating Thailand in both the first and second leg finals (5-3 on aggregate).

The 2026 edition will be the 16th edition of the tournament since the inaugural edition in Singapore in 1996 (known as the Tiger Cup). This will mark the 30th anniversary of the ASEAN Cup next year.

With the ASEAN Cup 2026 being held in the summer, it brings disadvantages to the Vietnamese team. This is the time when Vietnam's professional football tournaments have just ended, meaning that many key players are at risk of injury or overload.

European stars help Japan defeat Ghana

The Japanese team won 2-0 against Ghana in a friendly match at home on the evening of November 14.

Japan's two goals came at different points in the match. Takumi Minamino opened the scoring before half-time, before Ritsu Doan sealed the win in the second half with a fine strike. It was Japan's second consecutive win, following a historic 3-2 win over Brazil last month.

Doan and Minamino are two of the players currently playing in Europe, with Frankfurt and Monaco respectively. Both have been in good form this season and continue to be trusted by coach Hajime Moriyasu.

In addition to the above duo, the Japanese team also has famous faces such as Takefusa Kubo, Ao Tanaka, Shogo Taniguchi and especially Ayase Ueda - the striker who is leading the list of top scorers in the Dutch National Championship while playing for Feyenoord.

For Ghana, this match marked their first appearance since qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. However, the African side had a difficult evening. Ghana played deep and looked for counter-attacking opportunities thanks to the striker duo Antoine Semenyo (Bournemouth) and Brandon Thomas-Asante - a player who has scored 10 goals in the Championship this season.

However, Ghana's attacks did not create many surprises. The team also suffered a loss when midfielder Abu Francis had to leave the field on a stretcher early in the second half after a seemingly serious ankle injury.

After this match, Japan will have the next friendly match against Bolivia on November 18.

2026 World Cup qualifying results: Netherlands disappoints, Germany wins easily

In the early morning of November 15, the 2026 World Cup qualifying matches in Europe continued to be exciting on the pitches. Among them, the match between Poland and the Netherlands in Group G attracted a lot of attention from fans.

Right after the opening whistle, the Netherlands took the initiative to control the ball and pushed up their formation to dominate the game. On the contrary, Poland chose to play defensive counter-attack and accepted to give control to their opponents. During the first 30 minutes, the match was quite tight and the only clear chance belonged to the home team.

The stalemate lasted until the end of the first half before Lewandowski broke the deadlock. In the 43rd minute, the veteran striker sent a delicate through ball to Kaminski, who escaped to face goalkeeper Verbruggen. Kaminski's low shot landed in the net, opening the score 1-0 for Poland.

In the second half, the Netherlands responded immediately. Just two minutes after the ball started rolling again, Memphis Depay took advantage of the chaos in the penalty area, chose a suitable position and then tapped the ball close to the goal to equalize 1-1 for the "Orange Storm".

Despite scoring an early equalizer, the Netherlands suddenly slowed down. Both teams slowed down the game and created very few dangerous chances in the remaining time of the second half.

In the end, the Netherlands drew 1-1 with Poland in the 7th match of Group G of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. This result helped the Netherlands continue to maintain the top position in the group with 17 points, while Poland was right behind with 14 points.

In another development, the German national team had an easy 2-0 victory over Luxembourg in the match within the framework of Group A. This victory helped coach Nagelsmann and his team consolidate their top position in the group with 12 points, equal with Slovakia but with a better goal difference.

Messi and Martinez shine together, Argentina beat Angola 2-0

Lionel Messi and Lautaro Martinez each contributed a goal and an assist, helping Argentina to a convincing 2-0 win over Angola in a friendly.

Argentina won 2-0 against Angola in an international friendly, with Lionel Messi and Lautaro Martinez performing impressively. Both attackers got on the scoresheet and assisted each other, confirming the attacking synergy of the reigning world champions.

Entering the match, Argentina under the guidance of coach Lionel Scaloni quickly took control of the game. "La Albiceleste" dominated the ball control, patiently organizing attacks towards the home team's goal. Despite creating many opportunities, it was not until the end of the first half that the deadlock was broken.

In the 43rd minute, from a sharp combination, Lionel Messi made a decisive pass for Lautaro Martinez to finish neatly, opening the score 1-0 for Argentina. This goal relieved the psychological pressure and helped the away players play more freely in the second half.

The duo's combination continued to be effective. In the 82nd minute, Lautaro Martinez returned the favor with a favorable pass for Lionel Messi to finish close to the goal, sealing a 2-0 victory. This was a goal that affirmed Messi's central role in the team's play.

In the end, Argentina won 2-0 convincingly. This result not only extended the impressive streak of Lionel Scaloni and his team but also showed the increasingly effective combination between the stars on the attack line, especially the duo Messi and Martinez.