Opening of the 13th Southeast Asian Students' Sports Festival; Real Madrid wins the Champions League for the 15th time
The opening ceremony of the 13th Southeast Asian Student Sports Festival took place in Da Nang; Ho Chi Minh City Club I won the first leg of the National Women's Football Championship; Real Madrid won the 2023/24 Champions League; MU recruited a 14-year-old talent... are notable sports news in the past 24 hours.
Opening of the 13th Southeast Asian School Games
On the evening of June 1, the opening ceremony of the 13th Southeast Asian School Sports Festival with the theme "Connecting and Shining Together" took place in Da Nang.
The 13th Southeast Asian School Games brought together 1,300 student athletes and coaches from 10 countries in the region. Vietnam has 190 members participating in 6/6 sports of the Games.
At the opening ceremony, 10 sports delegations marched solemnly, demonstrating solidarity, friendship and honoring the spirit of sportsmanship.
The flag-raising ceremony of the Southeast Asian School Sports Council and the Games flag also took place on the opening night, marking the official start of the exciting sports festival.
The 13th Southeast Asian School Games officially took place from May 29 to June 9 with 6 sports and 107 events, corresponding to 107 sets of medals. Of which, there are 36 sets of medals for swimming, 2 sets of medals for basketball, 7 sets of medals for badminton, 36 sets of medals for athletics, 16 sets of medals for Pencak Silat and 10 sets of medals for Vovinam.
Ho Chi Minh City Club I won the first leg of the National Women's Football Championship
On June 1, round 7 of the National Women's Football Championship - Thai Son Bac Cup 2024 continued with the matches between Ho Chi Minh City Club I and Hanoi Club I; Thai Nguyen T&T Club and Phong Phu Ha Nam Club.
The highlight of round 7 is the match between Hanoi I and Ho Chi Minh City I. Before the match, both teams had the same number of points, but Ho Chi Minh City I led the rankings thanks to a better sub-index.
After the opening whistle, Ho Chi Minh City Club I played cautiously and did not rush to push up the attack. Meanwhile, Hanoi Club I really wanted to score an early goal but encountered a quality defense from their opponents. In the first half, dangerous opportunities were shared equally between both teams. Thanh Nha and Hai Yen missed the moment to open the score for the Northern representative. Tuyet Ngan and Phan Thi Trang also made the fans regretful when they lacked sharpness in the decisive phase. The first 45 minutes passed without any goals being scored.
In the second half, Ho Chi Minh City Club I changed their approach to the match. They pressed closer to Hanoi Club I's goal and soon got what they needed. In the 64th minute, from Nguyen Thi Tuyet Ngan's dribbling effort, Phan Thi Trang escaped and had an accurate shot to open the score for Ho Chi Minh City Club I.
Unexpectedly conceding a goal, Hanoi Club I focused all its strength on the attack. However, the Capital team's attack lacked decisiveness when approaching the opponent's goal. In the final minutes, Hai Linh and his teammates continuously played long balls to quickly find a goal. But this effort was not enough and Hanoi Club I accepted defeat against Ho Chi Minh City Club I. Thus, with 3 points won after the victory over the Capital team to raise the total score to 19, Ho Chi Minh City Club I is the champion of the first leg of the National Women's Football Championship - Thai Son Bac Cup 2024.
In the match on the same day at Ba Ria Stadium, the only goal by Lo Thi Hoai in the beginning of the second half also helped Thai Nguyen T&T Club win 3 points against Phong Phu Ha Nam Club, maintaining 3rd place on the rankings with 14 points at the end of the first leg.
Defeating Dortmund, Real Madrid won the Champions League for the 15th time
Real Madrid became the 2023/24 Champions League champions after a 2-0 victory over Dortmund in the final at Wembley Stadium (London, England).
Dani Carvajal and Vinicius Junior took turns shining to bring victory to the Spanish Royal team.
In the 74th minute, from a corner kick, Kroos made an accurate pass for Dani Carvajal to head in and score the opening goal 1-0 for Real Madrid against Dortmund in the Champions League final.
In the 83rd minute, Dortmund's Ian Maatsen made a mistake with a misdirected pass, allowing Jude Bellingham to assist Vinicius Junior, who easily raised the score to 2-0 for Real Madrid.
With this season's championship, Real Madrid has extended its record with the 15th time crowned in the C1/Champions League arena.
Meanwhile, Dortmund has yet to win the Champions League for the second time, nor can it help German football do the unprecedented thing of having 6 teams participating in this tournament next season.
The prospect of the Premier League being reduced to 18 teams
FIFA is reportedly planning to cut Europe's top leagues to 18 teams, in a bid to avoid player overload.
According to Goal, tensions between the parties over the tight schedule are increasing. FIFA is facing a backlash from teams and players due to concerns about being exhausted.
"Clubs in England and Spain could boycott the expanded 32-team FIFA Club World Cup 2025, forcing FIFA to take action," Goal wrote.
A source told The Sun: "Everyone believes that FIFA's ultimate aim is to reduce the leagues to 18 teams, so that players will be less affected by international fixtures. It would be no surprise if FIFA have already finalised the plan."
Currently, the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A each have 20 teams competing. However, only 18 clubs compete in France's Ligue 1 and Germany's Bundesliga.
La Liga president Javier Tebas said: "If we don't act, the football industry will be in danger. FIFA creates new tournaments. But for that to happen and to be able to participate in these tournaments, we have to lose two clubs from La Liga."
"That means we will lose 70 players at our clubs and thousands of jobs. We need to fix the current problems before creating new competitions that will destroy the football industry and the dreams of our fans," Tebas added.
In fact, players have to stretch more on all fronts. When the European national championships end, many players will join the national team to prepare for EURO 2024, Copa America or the Paris Olympics this summer.
Key players are unlikely to have a summer break as the national leagues will soon return in August. Not to mention, the new version of the Champions League requires each club to play a minimum of 8 matches instead of 6 in the group stage.
Meanwhile, the new version of the FIFA Club World Cup with 32 clubs will take place from June 15 to July 13 next year in the US.
MU recruits prodigy Silva Mexes
14-year-old talent Silva Mexes was pursued by many top English teams but chose to join Man United after saying goodbye to Ipswich.
Because he is still so young, Silva Mexes will play for MU's youth team and will have the opportunity to be promoted to the first team in the next few years if he progresses in his skills and fitness.
“It is a very proud moment for me and my family to announce the signing of Manchester United. Thank you to everyone who has helped me on my adventure. The hard work starts now,” Silva Mexes said after joining Man United.
Silva Mexes' father is Robert Earnshaw, the only player to score hat-tricks in the Premier League, all three divisions of the EFL, the FA Cup, the League Cup and the Wales national team.
Earnshaw began his professional career with Cardiff before playing for West Brom, Norwich, Derby County, Nottingham Forest, Blackpool, Toronto FC, Chicago Fire and Vancouver Whitecaps.
Earnshaw retired in 2015 after a career in MLS. The former striker also played 59 times for Wales.
At Man United there is another very promising young talent, Kai Rooney, son of Wayne Rooney, a member of Man United's U14 team.
