No Hoang, no Hau, no Dung at the AFC U23 Championship; Cong Phuong 'finalized' the Golden Ball

Champions League Round of 16: England vs Spain

The Champions League round of 16 draw pits the only team to have achieved a hat trick in three consecutive seasons, Real Madrid, against Man City and reigning champions Liverpool against Atletico Madrid.

These are two notable matches among the eight matches of the round of 16.

Knock-out round draw results.

The two great battles between English and Spanish football will wear down the two powers of English and Spanish football right from the start of the knockout matches.

The first legs will be played on 18, 19 and 25, 26/2/2020. The second legs will be played on 10, 11 and 17, 18/3/2020.

Heerenveen coach: "Van Hau is essential for the second half of the season"

Van Hau recently joined U22 Vietnam at the 30th SEA Games and brought home a historic gold medal after defeating Indonesia 3-0 in the final. In the match against Willem II in the early morning of December 14, Heerenveen also spent time before the match to honor this player's achievements at Abe Lenstra Stadium.

Heerenveen coach plans to use Van Hau in the second half of the season. Photo: SC Heerenveen.

"The chance for Van Hau to play a few minutes for Heerenveen this year is almost zero. However, he just needs to wait for his moment to come. Van Hau will be essential for the second half of the season," the Dutch strategist added.

U23 Vietnam plays friendly match with U23 Bahrain

In order for U23 Vietnam to have the best preparation for the 2020 AFC U23 Championship, the Vietnam Football Federation has contacted to find a green team for coach Park Hang-seo and his team.

U23 Vietnam has set a friendly match schedule with U23 Bahrain on January 3, 2020.

U23 Bahrain is in Group A at the 2020 AFC U23 Championship, they are the opponent of host U23 Thailand. To ensure the tactical secrecy of the two teams, the match between U23 Vietnam and U23 Bahrain will limit the media from filming and taking photos.

Cong Phuong enters the "final" of the Vietnam Golden Ball: Causing much controversy

On the morning of December 16, after receiving nominations from experts, sports journalists, coaches... the award organizers announced the names that made it to the "final" of the race to win the title of Vietnam Golden Ball 2019.

And just like previous years, Cong Phuong once again has his name on the list to compete with his teammates at his old club such as Tuan Anh, Van Toan or on the national team such as Quang Hai, Hung Dung, Trong Hoang... for a valuable individual title.

Cong Phuong.

It is understandable that Cong Phuong's name is mentioned and causes controversy, because compared to his teammates in the Vietnam national team or even at the club level, the striker from Nghe An was really pale in the 2019 season.

U23 Asia: No Hoang, no Hau, no Hung Dung

Three important players in the squad that just won the SEA Games 30 championship, Trong Hoang, Hung Dung and Van Hau, will not be in the U23 Vietnam squad for the U23 Asian Cup finals opening on January 8, 2020 in Thailand. Because the three pillars Hung Dung, Trong Hoang (due to being over age) and Van Hau (returned to Heerenveen Club).

Vietnam U23 team participating in the U23 Asian finals will lack three important positions: Trong Hoang, Hung Dung and Van Hau.

Hopefully there will be a "Van Hau version 2.0", or people who can strongly replace Hung Dung and Trong Hoang.

Waiting for coach Park to continue to bring new surprises.