U23 Vietnam's direct opponent at the Asian tournament has a surprising move; Man Utd 'raises the white flag' in the top 4 race

U23 Vietnam's direct opponent at the Asian tournament has a surprising move

On April 13, Coach Garrido announced the list of 23 players who will join U23 Malaysia in the 2024 U23 Asian Cup.

Notably, in this list there are 7 players who can play as strikers: Saravanan, Alif Zikri, Najmudin Akmal, Daryl Sham, Fergus Tierney, Haqimi Azim and Luqman Hakim.

This is very surprising because with a list of 23 players, most teams only bring 4-5 strikers.

Among the 7 strikers that U23 Malaysia possesses, Luqman Hakim is the most prominent.

The 22-year-old player has signed a 5-year contract with KV Kortrijk (Belgium) and is playing for YSCC Yokohama in the Japanese 3rd division on loan.

Luqman Hakim is a Malaysian football prodigy and he was also included in the list of 60 most potential young players in the world in 2019 by The Guardian (UK).

Despite having prepared very carefully with the goal of getting a ticket to pass the group stage, before the 2024 U23 Asian Cup, the "Tigers" are facing many difficulties.

Coach Garrido admitted that U23 Malaysia is currently in poor form, has poor fighting spirit and their physical condition is also alarming.

“We lost two consecutive matches but fortunately they were only friendly matches. Overall, I have clearly seen the weaknesses of U23 Malaysia. I think I know what to do to improve them.

The players' coordination, fitness and technique are not as good as I imagined. U23 Malaysia needs to improve a lot of things before entering the U23 Asian tournament," said coach Garrido.

In this tournament, the yellow and black team is in group D with U23 Vietnam, U23 Kuwait and U23 Uzbekistan.

U23 Malaysia will face coach Hoang Anh Tuan's team on April 20.

Vietnam futsal team finalizes list for 2024 Asian Futsal Finals

During the meeting between Vice President of Vietnam Football Federation Tran Anh Tu and the entire Vietnam futsal team at noon on April 13 in Ho Chi Minh City, Coach Diego Raul Giustozzi of the Vietnam futsal team announced the list of 14 players participating in the 2024 Asian Futsal Finals.

Accordingly, the 5 eliminated players include Mai Xuan Hiep, Luu Thanh Bao, Nguyen Hoang Anh Vu, Dinh Cong Vien and Y Zen Kdam.

According to plan, Coach Giustozzi and his team will take a flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Bangkok at 8:45 am on April 14.

List of Vietnam futsal team participating in the 2024 Asian Futsal Championship Finals:

Goalkeepers: Ho Van Y (Thai Son Nam Ho Chi Minh City), Nguyen Huu Phuc (Khanh Hoa).

Fixo: Nhan Gia Hung, Nguyen Manh Dung (Thai Son Nam, Ho Chi Minh City).

Ala: Pham Duc Hoa, Chau Doan Phat, Nguyen Anh Duy, Tran Thai Huy (Thai Son Nam Ho Chi Minh City), Ngo Ngoc Son, Tran Nhat Trung (Sahako FC), Tu Minh Quang (Thai Son Bac).

Pivo: Nguyen Thinh Phat, Dao Minh Quang (Thai Son Nam Ho Chi Minh City), Chu Van Tien (Sahako FC).

Man Utd "raises white flag" in top 4 race

On the night of April 13, Man Utd only had 1 point after a 2-2 draw against Bournemouth, thereby still being 10 points behind the top 4 after 33 rounds.

MU had another performance that made fans bored. The midfield with Casemiro, Kobbie Mainoo almost failed to complete the task of fighting, blocking and let the defense continuously suffer from Bournemouth's slaps in the face.

The home team continuously penetrated the position of young player Willy Kambwala and had 15 shots in the first half alone, 3 times more than Man Utd, and 2 of them became goals. In the 16th minute, Kambwala slipped and allowed Dominic Solanke to shoot past Andre Onana.

20 minutes later, Kambwala made another mistake in marking. Justin Kluivert comfortably adjusted and fired a powerful shot, doubling the gap for Bournemouth.

On the offensive front, Man Utd did not have a single clear combination. The "Red Devils" only had 2 significant situations in the first half, both of which originated from Bruno Fernandes. In the 31st minute, the Portuguese midfielder took advantage of a chaotic situation to equalize 1-1. In the extra time, number 8 had a long-range shot denied by the crossbar.

In the second half, Bournemouth took the initiative to retreat to defend. At this time, Man Utd was able to control the ball in the middle of the field. However, the visitors' attacks were too disjointed. Rashford continued to bore the fans with his cumbersome handling, while Hojlund was almost lost in front of Bournemouth's crowded defense.

MU were completely deadlocked but got lucky in the 65th minute. Mainoo's long shot hit Adam Smith's hand in the penalty area. A penalty was awarded. Bruno took advantage to complete his double and equalize 2-2.

The drama intensified in the final minutes. The referee pointed to the penalty spot when Kambwala brought down a home player. However, VAR intervened and saved Man Utd from a penalty when it was determined that the foul was outside the penalty area.

The match ended in a 2-2 draw. Man Utd remained in 7th place with 50 points, 10 points behind the top 4 with only 5 rounds left in the season.

Real Madrid have a good chance of winning La Liga early

In the match between Mallorca vs Real Madrid in round 31 of La Liga 2023/24, the away team had a minimal 1-0 victory, thereby continuing to top the rankings.

Having to face a much weaker opponent like Mallorca, coach Carlo Ancelotti put a few key players on the bench such as Vinicius, Toni Kroos and Rodrigo.

With home advantage and the utmost determination, Mallorca played a tight game, causing Real's tired legs a lot of trouble. The most notable situation in the first half came from Bellingham's long-range shot that hit the crossbar in the 33rd minute.

After the break, Real Madrid continued to push up their formation and opened the scoring in the 48th minute. The Tchouameni star shot beautifully from a distance into the Mallorca net. In this situation, luck was somewhat on Tchouameni's side because the ball touched the Mallorca player's foot, thereby making the ball's path quite difficult.

With the lead, Real played with more confidence and continued to put great pressure on the visitors' goal. However, the lack of luck of Vinicius and Brahim Diaz prevented Real from widening the gap.

Meanwhile, Mallorca tried but were stuck in their attacks, they could not create clear opportunities and had to accept the result of losing 0-1 to Real.

With all 3 points in this match, Real Madrid is now 11 points ahead of the 2nd place team on the rankings, Barca, but has played 1 more match.

Casper Ruud beat Djokovic for the first time, entered the Monte Carlo final

Casper Ruud brilliantly defeated Novak Djokovic 2-1 (6-4, 1-6 and 6-4) to book his place in the final of the Monter Carlo Masters, to meet Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Unlike in the quarterfinals, Djokovic had a tough time against Casper Ruud early on. Meanwhile, the world No. 10 Norwegian played an excellent match against Nole. Djokovic has a perfect record against Ruud in all 5 previous encounters and has not even lost a set.

Ruud broke Djokovic's serve early, and he got another break in game 5. The 36-year-old Serbian's efforts could only help him regain 1 break but still lost 4-6.

In set 2, Djokovic completely transformed, he broke very early and then won overwhelmingly 6-1 to bring the match into the deciding set 3.

Entering set 3, the scenario was quite similar to the opening set when Djokovic was broken early by Ruud on his serve. The No. 1 seed regained the break in game 7 before tying the score at 4-4.

However, in the deciding game 10, Djokovic made another mistake and had to watch his opponent win 6-4.

This is the first time Ruud has beaten Djokovic after five consecutive defeats. He also became the first Norwegian player to defeat the world number 1 in ATP history, since 1973.

Ruud will compete for the Monte Carlo title with Stefanos Tsitsipas, who beat Janik Sinner also 2-1 (6-4, 3-6 and 6-4).

Mai Anh (According to Bongdaplus/Vietnamnet/Baogiaothong)