Indonesia officially stripped of hosting rights for 2023 U20 World Cup; Arsenal and Barcelona compete for teenage striker

2023 AFC U17 Championship Finals: Vietnam in the same group with Japan and Uzbekistan

On the afternoon of March 30, in Bangkok, Thailand, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) held a draw to divide the groups for 16 teams participating in the 2023 AFC U17 Championship Finals.

As a result, U17 Vietnam is in Group D with Japan - the team that has won the championship three times (1994, 2006 and 2018), India - twice reached the quarter-finals (2002, 2018) and Uzbekistan - champion in 2012. Meanwhile, host Thailand is in Group A with Yemen, Malaysia and Laos.

Results of the draw for the 2023 AFC U17 Championship finals. Source: VFF

Group B is a race between South Korea, Iran, Afghanistan and Qatar, while Group C is a competition between Tajikistan, Australia, Saudi Arabia and China.

The 2023 AFC U17 Championship will take place from June 15 to July 2 at four stadiums in Thailand: Rajamangala, Pathum Thani, Thammasat and Chonburi. The teams will compete in a round-robin format to determine rankings. The first and second teams in each group will advance to the quarter-finals. The four winners of the quarter-finals will advance to the semi-finals and qualify for the 2023 FIFA U17 World Cup, which will be held in Peru in October.

In preparation for the 2023 AFC U17 Championship Finals,Vietnam U17 teamUnder the guidance of head coach Hoang Anh Tuan, the team will begin training from April 1 in Hanoi.

Arsenal and Barcelona compete for teenage striker

According to Football Express, the Gunners' board is satisfied with the performance of Gabriel Jesus as well as Oleksandr Zinchenko. Therefore, they plan to convince another Man City star, midfielder Ilkay Gundogan.

Arsenal see the German midfielder as their top target, and hope he will reject a contract extension with Man City so he can move to the Emirates as a free agent.

In addition, Sport (Spain) reported that Arsenal has been continuously negotiating with the representative of Viktor Roque, the 18-year-old Brazilian striker, who Chelsea is also pursuing.

Viktor Roque is of interest to Arsenal, Chelsea and Barcelona.

Even Gunners Technical Director Edu directly contacted the Brazilian player's father to make attractive offers to soon have this young star.

Another reputable source also said that Viktor Roque's father and agent are expected to be in London in the next few days to negotiate with both Chelsea and Arsenal about the player's future.

It is known that Viktor Roque is also a player that Barcelona is trying to acquire in the next summer transfer window. The Samba striker plays as a striker with a style that many experts analyze as very similar to another former striker who played for Barcelona, ​​Luis Suarez.

For that reason, the Catalan team really wants to bring him to the club when Robert Lewandowski is getting old while other names such as Ferran Torres, Ansu Fati,... cannot ensure stable performance.

Before Barcelona, ​​PSG also had time to pay attention to Roque, but currently the French football giant is focusing on keeping the star duo Neymar and Messi.

Striker Nguyen Van Quyet was honored as the best player of February.

Striker Nguyen Van Quyet was honored with the title of Best Player of February before the return of Night Wolf V.League 2023.

Recently, the titles for the best collectives and individuals in February were announced by the Organizing Committee of Night Wolf V.League 2023. Accordingly, the title of Best Player of February belonged to striker Nguyen Van Quyet of Hanoi Club.

This is a worthy reward, recognizing his contributions in the Hanoi FC shirt. His brilliant performance and 4 goals helped Hanoi FC maintain an unbeaten record after 4 rounds and temporarily take 2nd place on the rankings.

Van Quyet received the title of Best Player of February of V-League 2023.

Van Quyet has won the Vietnamese Golden Ball for the second time. Previously, he was honored in 2020. In 2022, Van Quyet did not leave much of an impression on the National Team. But at the club level, this striker played a very prominent role, helping Hanoi win a double of domestic titles.

Van Quyet was honored with the Best Player of V-League 2022 award. Thus, with 2 times winning the Vietnam Golden Ball award, Van Quyet is only behind 3 players in terms of the number of times winning this award: Pham Thanh Luong (4 times), Le Huynh Duc and Le Cong Vinh (3 times).

Indonesia officially stripped of the right to host the 2023 U20 World Cup finals

The International Football Federation (FIFA) officially announced the stripping of Indonesia's right to host the 2023 U20 World Cup. This decision causes the U20 Indonesia team to lose their qualification to participate in the tournament.

Accordingly, the decision was made after a private meeting between FIFA President Gianni Infantino and President of the Indonesian Football Federation (PSSI) Erick Thohir. Specifically, FIFA's statement reads: "FIFA has decided, due to the current circumstances, to remove Indonesia from hosting the 2023 U20 World Cup."

The 2023 U20 World Cup logo was originally scheduled to take place in Indonesia. Photo: FIFA

Currently, the replacement host country has not been announced by FIFA. However, the tournament schedule remains unchanged, the 2023 U20 World Cup Finals are scheduled to start from May 20 to June 11.

With the loss of the right to host the U20 World Cup, the Indonesian U20 team has lost the right to participate in the tournament. The Indonesian media has also spoken out and demanded that those who lost the right to host the tournament take responsibility and apologize to the public.