'Nghe An Ronaldo' becomes Cong Phuong's new teammate; Saying goodbye to Thanh Hoa Club, coach Popov is sought after by 4 teams

MU is underestimated in Europa League

Manchester United are not considered the number one candidate for the Europa League championship this season.

Based on EuroIndex's supercomputer ratings, Manchester United are only third in the list of candidates for the 2024/25 Europa League title. Of the eight teams that have reached the quarter-finals, the "Red Devils" are rated with only a 19% chance of winning the title, behind the two leading teams, Athletic Club (24%) and Lazio (22%).

Manchester United, despite being one of the most traditional teams in England and possessing the most valuable squad in the tournament, only ranked third. This shows that MU is not the name with the highest expectations in this tournament, based on form as well as the draw.

Behind Manchester United is Tottenham Hotspur, another English representative, with a 14% chance of winning the championship. Next is Eintracht Frankfurt (Germany) with 10%, Lyon (France) with 8%, the Nordic team Bodo Glimt (Norway) and Rangers (Scotland) both have only a 2% chance of winning the championship.

These figures reflect the fact that Manchester United are facing strong competition from other mid-table clubs in the Europa League.

MU will meet Lyon in the quarter-finals. This is not an easy opponent for the English club, when they are in very good form in 2025, both in the Europa League and Ligue 1.

Tickets for the two matches between Vietnam and Cambodia and Laos are on sale again.

The organizing committee has just announced that tickets for the match between Vietnam and Cambodia and Laos, which will take place at Go Dau Stadium (Binh Duong), will continue to be sold.

According to the schedule,Vietnam teamwill have a friendly match with the Cambodian team, taking place at 7:30 p.m. on March 19. On March 25, midfielder Quang Hai and his teammates will enter the opening match of the 2027 Asian Cup 3 Qualifiers against the Laos team, also at 7:30 p.m.

Both matches will take place at Go Dau Stadium (Binh Duong) and both will have two ticket prices: 400,000 VND/ticket and 200,000 VND/ticket. Previously, the match organizers - Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) announced that tickets would be sold online from March 9. However, tickets for the match against Laos were almost sold out two days in advance (March 15 is the deadline for purchase).

On the afternoon of March 14, VFF announced that it will continue to open the second round of online sales and sell tickets directly at the ticket counter for the two matches of the Vietnam team, to serve fans who can buy tickets to the stadium to watch and cheer on the matches of coach Kim Sang Sik and his team.

"Nghe An Ronaldo" becomes Cong Phuong's new teammate

The leaders of Cong Phuong's Binh Phuoc Club confirmed that the team will sign a contract with midfielder Tran Phi Son. He will be registered to play in the second leg of the 2024/25 National First Division.

Before that, the two sides had negotiated a contract for a long time. Phi Son left Ha Tinh because he wanted to have more opportunities to play. Unfortunately for Phi Son, this player was injured. He did not want to sign a contract with a new team at that time, when he could not play.

Appreciating the eagerness to learn and professionalism of the midfielder from Ha Tinh, the leaders of Binh Phuoc team patiently waited. When Phi Son recovered and was ready to play, the two sides officially signed the contract.

Tran Phi Son was born in 1992, trained from the training center.Lam River Nghe An. He was soon promoted to the first team, winning many glories with Nghe An football. Then, following the call of his senior Le Cong Vinh and teacher Nguyen Huu Thang, Phi Son moved to play for Ho Chi Minh City. During this time, Phi Son played well and at one point returned to the Vietnam national team.

The greatest mark of the midfielder known as "Nghe An's Ronaldo" came during the period when coach Toshiya Miura led U23 Vietnam, Olympic Vietnam and the Vietnam national team.

After leaving Thanh Hoa Club, coach Popov is sought after by 4 teams

Coach Velizar Popov revealed that he received offers from four teams. Among them, two Vietnamese clubs and two foreign teams contacted the Bulgarian coach. The 49-year-old expert did not specifically mention the names of the clubs that were interested in him.

On March 5, coach Velizar Popov parted ways with Thanh Hoa Club after a series of 11 matches of draws and losses. The coach born in 1976 is still in Vietnam resting with his family while calculating his next work plans.

"I have received two offers from outside Vietnam and will think about them next week. In addition, there are two offers from Vietnamese clubs, but at the moment I want to wait a bit longer. This is the time to move on, to move towards a bigger challenge," said coach Popov.

Mr. Velizar Popov helped Thanh Hoa Club win 2 National Cups and once won the National Super Cup. This season, the Thanh Hoa team was at one point at the top of the V.League rankings despite not having a strong squad. When coach Popov said goodbye, Thanh Hoa Club was still in third place.

In addition to good performance, Thanh Hoa Club under the leadership of the Bulgarian coach also impressed with its fiery playing style. The Thanh team always showed a spirit of dedication, operating at high intensity with a well-organized squad./.