The reason why Thailand did not invite Vietnam to the King's Cup is clear; Ronaldo wrote a letter after the failure at EURO 2024

The reason why Thailand did not invite Vietnam to participate in King's Cup is clear

Recently, Think Curve (Thailand) revealed the reason why the Vietnamese team was not invited to participate in the King's Cup 2024.

Thailand has recently announced that Syria, Tajikistan and the Philippines will be invited to their King's Cup. The tournament will be held during FIFA Days in October.

Syria (93rd FIFA ranking) and Tajikistan (102nd). Both have not qualified for the 2026 World Cup third round in Asia and are in Pot 1 for the draw for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, along with Thailand.

Meanwhile, the Philippines (ranked 147th), a rather weak team in Southeast Asia, is quite inferior to Vietnam and Malaysia, but was unexpectedly invited to the tournament, making Thai football fans feel confused.

Recently, Think Curve (Thailand) explained this issue: "The simple reason is that the Malaysian team has a friendly tournament called "Merdeka Cup" that they will host from September 2 to 10, 2024, with Tajikistan, Lebanon and the Philippines as guests.

It would make no sense to compete in the King's Cup again, as the Golden Tigers have already faced Tajikistan and the Philippines in the home tournament.

Meanwhile, the Vietnamese team chose to organize a friendly tournament on FIFA Day in October, with guests India and Lebanon. They were unable to attend the King's Cup 2024 due to conflicting schedules, so the Philippines became the best remaining option in Southeast Asia.

In addition to friendly matches with India and Lebanon, the Vietnamese team is expected to have more friendly matches to test tactics for the AFF Cup later this year.

According to the schedule, Vietnam will face India on October 9, then Lebanon on October 15. Between the two matches, the visiting teams India and Lebanon will meet on October 12.

At the AFF Cup 2024, the red team is in the same group with Indonesia, Philippines, Myanmar and Laos. The goal of the Vietnamese team is to reach the final of this year's Southeast Asian Football Championship.

Vietnam women's volleyball team ranked 33rd in the world

The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) has just released the latest rankings of national teams and the Vietnamese women's volleyball team has been recorded as ranked 33rd in the world. This is the highest ranking that a Vietnamese national volleyball team has achieved in the world rankings.

Regarding the ranking in Asian women's volleyball, the Vietnamese women's volleyball team is still in 5th place. Above us are the teams of China, Japan, Thailand, Kazakhstan. The points of the Vietnamese women's volleyball team have accumulated significantly when we have won the championship at the AVC Challenge Cup 2024 (May 2024) and now at the FIVB Challenge Cup 2024.

At the FIVB Challenge Cup 2024, coach Nguyen Tuan Kiet once shared that the most important goal of the Vietnamese women's volleyball team is to strive for the best professional results. At least, with the victory over the host team Philippines, the Vietnamese women's volleyball team entered the semi-finals of the FIVB Challenge Cup 2024 and this is the first time that Vietnamese volleyball has a national team entering the semi-finals of a tournament organized by the International Volleyball Federation.

On the official FIVB website, content was written to acknowledge the Vietnamese women's volleyball team's history of entering the semi-finals of a tournament organized by FIVB for the first time.

Harry Kane provides injury update after match against Switzerland

Harry Kane has revealed he will be fit for England's Euro 2024 semi-final, after watching from the sidelines as his team-mates edged past Switzerland in a penalty shootout.

In the match in Dusseldorf, the Three Lions fell behind when Breel Embolo fired the ball into the net from close range. However, Bukayo Saka responded just five minutes later with a stunning strike from the edge of the box to send the game into extra time.

Kane was quiet throughout the match, and it was hoped he would feature as the match headed towards penalties, but he was taken off early in the second period of extra time, replaced by Ivan Toney, who later scored from the penalty spot.

That change came after Kane was pushed by Manuel Akanji and collided with manager Gareth Southgate, leaving the striker struggling to get to his feet and immediately being substituted.

Speaking after the match, the England captain played down any injury concerns. “I’m fine, just a bit tired,” Kane said. “I had a bit of cramp there, I tripped over a water bottle and both my calves were crampy. The manager made a quick decision, Toney came on and did the job.”

Ronaldo writes letter after failure at EURO 2024

Cristiano Ronaldo has just released a message expressing his disappointment after he and his teammates in the Portuguese national team were eliminated in the quarter-finals of EURO 2024.

Against France, Ronaldo performed poorly. He made Portugal lose to France 3-5 on penalties. In the previous 120 minutes, Ronaldo was given many chances but he missed them all, especially in a favorable situation but Ronaldo shot into the sky.

Ronaldo's poor performance caused him to end EURO 2024 with 0 goals, equaling De Bruyne in the unforgettable record of being the striker with the most shots on target in a EURO finals without scoring (10).

Criticism is being directed at Ronaldo. Many experts believe that Ronaldo has taken away the opportunity to show off other strikers who contribute better to the overall play such as Jota or Ramos.

Meanwhile, the 39-year-old star expressed his disappointment. Returning home, Ronaldo sent a message: “We want more. The whole team deserves much better. For our teammates, for each of you, for Portugal.

We are grateful for everything you have given to the team and for everything you have achieved so far. On and off the pitch, I am sure this legacy will be celebrated and will continue to be built together."

In the message above, Ronaldo has not yet mentioned his intention to leave the national team. As of the loss to France, he has played 212 matches for the national team and scored 130 goals.

CR7 holds the record for the player with the most appearances and the most goals for a national team. Behind him is Messi with 108 goals for Argentina and perhaps Ronaldo's record will last forever.

Chess player died while playing

Chess grandmaster Ziaur Rahman died at the age of 50 from a stroke while competing in the Bangladesh national tournament.

The incident happened to the 1974-born player when he was making his 25th move in the penultimate game of the competition with player Enamul Hossain at 7:00 p.m. on July 5 (Bangladesh time).

"When it was my turn to play, Rahman collapsed on the floor," said Hossain, 43. "At first, I thought he was trying to reach for a water bottle on the table and fell. When we realized he had a stroke, we immediately took him to the hospital."

Bangladesh Chess Federation Secretary General Shahab Uddin Shamim said grandmaster Rahman died before reaching the hospital.

Notably, at the time Rahman suffered a stroke, his son was also playing at the table right next to him. His son is 19-year-old Tahsin Tajwar Zia, ranked 7th in Bangladesh.

In 2022, Mr. Rahman and Mr. Zia became the first father-son pair in history to compete together at a Chess Olympiad.

Mr. Rahman is the most successful chess player in Bangladesh history with 15 national titles. He drew with Magnus Carlsen at the 2008 Chess Olympiad and won many Asian Open tournaments during his career.

Rahman was awarded the title of Grandmaster in 2002.

The ill-fated grandmaster was seeded third at this year's Bangladesh national championship and once reached a peak Elo rating of 2,570.

At the time of the accident, Rahman had a big advantage over Hossain. If he had won that game, he would have reduced the gap to the leader of the tournament to 0.5 points. In the previous 11 games, the 50-year-old was unbeaten with 5 wins and 6 draws.