Losing to Vietnam, Thailand appoints Japanese coach to 'hot seat'; Neymar goes on strike

Losing to Vietnam, Thailand appoints Japanese coach to "hot seat"

Coach Akira Nishino was in charge of the Japanese team at the 2018 World Cup - a tournament in which the Blue Samurai played very impressively.

Last weekend, coach Akira Nishino went to Thailand to watch Thai League 2, as well as negotiate contracts.

FAT President - Somyot (right) shakes hands with Mr. Akira Nishino - new head coach of the Thai national team and U23 team since July 1, 2019.

The decision was made on the evening of July 1st, lasting more than 3 hours, and it seemed like the negotiation process was canceled, when it was not possible to reach a common agreement. Finally, the Football Association of Thailand (FAT) confirmed that the links were untied, and the contract was signed. FAT said that Coach Akira Nishino is responsible for leading the Thai national team and the U23 team of this country.

This can be seen as a big surprise, but it is reasonable after Thai football has continuously been inferior to Vietnam at many levels.

Coach Akira Nishino is tasked with leading Thailand to the best results in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers (also the 2023 Asian Cup qualifiers).

At the same time, the Japanese strategist will replace Alexandre Gama - who has just chosen Muangthong United - to lead Thailand U23 to the 2019 SEA Games.

Coach Akira Nishino's salary as the head coach of both the Thai national team and U23 has not been announced. He will hold a separate press conference, the time has not been officially decided.

Neymar rebelled and did not return to practice with PSG

Sport reported on Sunday that striker Neymar Jr. has gone on strike. The Brazilian player has informed PSG's board that he wants the club to agree a deal with Barcelona so that he can leave the Parisian capital club.

Specifically, Neymar decided not to return to the team as scheduled on July 8 and continue to stay in his home country Brazil. According to Sport, Neymar refused to participate in PSG's summer tour in China.

Neymar is doing everything he can to leave PSG and return to his old team Barca.

Previously, the French newspaper Le Parisien reported that PSG was fed up with Neymar's behavior. The club's board of directors planned to sell the Brazilian star for 300 million euros, but that was an amount beyond Barca's ability to pay. After that, the Ligue 1 champions continued to lower the selling price of Neymar to 222 million euros, equal to what they paid the Nou Camp team 2 years ago.

In addition, the French press also reported that PSG could completely accept the fee of 120 million euros, plus 2 Barca players. That could be Philippe Coutinho and Ivan Rakitic or Oussmane Dembele.

Coach Nguyen Duc Thang shares his feelings after leaving the hot seat

The team is on the rise, the position seems untouchable but surprisingly, coach Nguyen Duc Thang said goodbye to Thanh Hoa. This makes the public question.

Coach Nguyen Duc Thang said goodbye to Thanh Hoa, causing great surprise to fans.

“In Thanh Hoa, I was respected and did my job properly. The past period was the most memorable period in my coaching career. There were all kinds of emotions, joy, sadness, extreme happiness, but in the end, I feel lucky to be able to accompany Thanh Hoa football,” Mr. Nguyen Duc Thang shared.

This coach added: “I have talked a lot with Chairman Nguyen Van De about the future and direction of the team. I received respect, but I want to stop for a while. I want to renew myself. I want to improve my career so that one day in the near future I will return to coaching.

I wanted to stop for a long time, but at that time the team was in trouble, I couldn't leave my teammates behind. Now it's different, Thanh Hoa is doing well, the players are in good form and I think it's appropriate for me to stop. I'm grateful to Thanh Hoa football and hope that fans will always accompany the team."

Final round of Group C & D, CAN 2019: Senegal, Ivory Coast win tickets

The final round of matches in Groups C and D of the 2019 CAN Cup has ended, and four more teams have been confirmed for the Round of 16. Highly rated teams such as Algeria, Senegal, Morrocco and Ivory Coast have all qualified to continue.

Before the final match of Group C took place, Algeria had already secured a ticket to the next round and Tanzania had also had to stop playing. Meanwhile, Senegal and Kenya had to fight for the remaining ticket.

Ivory Coast had a resounding 4-1 victory to advance.

With a squad of more stars, Senegal completely dominated the game with more possession and shots. However, it was not until the 63rd minute that Ismaila Sarr opened the scoring for Senegal. After that, Sadio Mane scored two goals in a row to seal a 3-0 victory and help Senegal qualify for the round of 16.

In the remaining match, Algeria also had a resounding 3-0 victory over Tanzania to take first place in the group. Algeria and Senegal have direct tickets to the round of 16 while Kenya is among the third-placed teams with the best records and will have to wait until the final matches of Groups E and F to know whether they will continue or not.

The situation in Group D is similar to Group C when Morocco has won the right to continue, Namibia is officially eliminated and Ivory Coast and South Africa compete for the remaining ticket.

In the remaining match, Ivory Coast confidently advanced to second place in the group with a resounding 4-1 victory over Namibia.

Thus, up to now, CAN 2019 has determined 8 names to win tickets to the round of 16 including Egypt, Uganda, Madagascar, Nigeria, Algeria, Senegal, Ivory Coast and Morocco.

Results of last night's matches

Kenya 0-3 Senegal

Tanzania 0-3 Morocco

Namibia 1-4 Ivory Coast

South Africa 0-1 Morocco

Khoi Nguyen