Vietnam national team star honored by AFC; Results of the Champions League round of 16 matches on the morning of February 14
(Baonghean.vn) - Bui Hoang Viet Anh is on the list of 5 defenders with the most tackles at the Asian Cup; there were no surprises in the opening round of 16 matches of the 2023-2024 Champions League; Messi was invited by his former teammate to attend the Olympics... are notable sports news in the past 24 hours.
Vietnam star honored by AFC at Asian Cup
Recently, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) announced the most impressive statistics at the 2023 Asian Cup.
Notably, Bui Hoang Viet Anh is on the list of 5 defenders with the most tackles in the tournament.
The Vietnamese national team's central defender had 11 successful interceptions, equal to Uzbekistan's Rustamjon.
The 3 players ranked above Bui Hoang Viet Anh in this statistic are Manuchekhr Safarov (Tajikistan), Ahmed Fathy and Mohamed Waad (Qatar) with 12 times.
Notably, in this top 5, only Bui Hoang Viet Anh played 3 matches when the Vietnamese team had to stop right after the group stage.
While Rustamjon and Manuchekhr Safarov played 5 matches. Ahmed Fathy and Mohamed Waad played a maximum of 7 matches.
That shows the impressive performance as well as the great pressure that the central defender of the Hanoi Police Club has to face in the matches at the 2023 Asian Cup.
At the 2023 Asian Cup, the 1999-born star showed maturity and composure in defense.
But in general, Viet Anh still needs to learn more experience from his seniors.
Vietnam national football team has been deducted the most points on the FIFA rankings
Before the World Football Federation (FIFA) announced the February 2024 rankings, the Vietnam National Team had determined its position, 106th in the world.
Specifically, according to calculations, 3 consecutive losses against Japan, Indonesia and Iraq in the group stage of the 2024 Asian Cup caused coach Troussier and his team to lose 41 points, drop 12 places and fall out of the top 100 FIFA.
This sad result makes Vietnam national team become the team with the most points deducted in the world on the February 2024 rankings.
Meanwhile, rival Thailand rose exactly 12 places but still failed to enter the top 100 (113 to 101). However, Thailand is still the number 1 team in Southeast Asia at the moment.
With the achievement of winning the 2023 Asian Cup, Qatar was awarded 90 points, increasing 20 places from 58 to 38 in the world.
Results of the Champions League round of 16 matches on the morning of February 14
There were no surprises in the opening round of 16 of the 2023-2024 Champions League as the teams with higher ratings all won.
Defending champions Manchester City had no difficulty winning 3-1 right on Copenhagen's field.
Kevin De Bruyne continued to shine after returning to make a big contribution to the victory of the Premier League champions.
De Bruyne was the one who helped Man City get off to a smooth start with the opening goal after breaking free and unleashing a dangerous diagonal shot in the 11th minute of the match.
Copenhagen then rose strongly and got what they wanted with Magnus Mattsson's equalizer. In the 34th minute, from a failed pass from goalkeeper Ederson, Mattsson had the opportunity to shoot a difficult shot to equalize 1-1.
However, just before the first half ended, the defending champions responded with a goal from Bernardo Silva to make it 2-1.
In the second half, coach Pep Guardiola's team continued to play better and created many dangerous opportunities in front of goalkeeper Kamil Grabara's goal.
However, they had to wait until the 90+2 minute to celebrate again. De Bruyne made a pass to Phil Foden to unleash a powerful shot to make it 3-1 for Manchester City.
A 3-1 victory in Denmark gives Manchester City a huge advantage over Copenhagen in the race for a ticket to the Champions League quarter-finals.
According to the schedule, the second leg between Manchester City and Copenhagen at Etihad Stadium will take place in the early morning of March 7.
Along with Manchester City, Real Madrid also had complete joy when visiting RB Leipzig's field.
Brahim Diaz played the hero when he scored the only goal in the 48th minute to help the Spanish Royal team win 1-0.
This result gives coach Carlo Ancelotti's team a slight advantage over Leipzig before the second leg between the two teams at Bernabeu Stadium in the early morning of March 7.
Mascherano invites Messi to play in Olympics
Messi's former Barcelona and Argentina teammate Javier Mascherano said he suggested the 2022 World Cup champion wear the Argentina Olympic shirt to play in the Paris Olympics this summer.
Javier Mascherano is now the captain of the Argentina U-23 team, which is preparing hard for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
On February 11, U-23 Argentina defeated Brazil 1-0 and secured one of the four South American men's football spots at the Paris Olympics.
Speaking about the possibility that Messi could be invited to wear the Argentina Olympic shirt to attend the Olympics in the French capital this summer, coach Javier Mascherano said: “It's easy, Leo and I are very close friends in the national team and Barcelona club, I still keep in touch with Leo regularly. I'm just afraid that if Messi is busy wearing the Inter Miami shirt, it will be difficult for him to wear the Argentina Olympic shirt. The door of the Argentina youth team is always open and ready to welcome Messi with joy and excitement from the whole team. I will also officially send an invitation to Messi, it depends on many things, whether he participates or not."
At the 2008 Olympics, Messi led the Argentine Olympic team to the championship in China. The Paris 2024 Olympic football tournament will last from July through August. Each youth team is allowed to strengthen with three players over the age of 23.
Salah returns to training for Liverpool
The Kop homepage has brought a positive image related to the Egyptian striker.
Mohamed Salah has not played for Liverpool since New Year's Day, with a serious hamstring injury sustained in the AFCON group stage against Egypt forcing him to return to Anfield early for treatment.
The 31-year-old was initially expected to be out for a significant period of time but has recovered ahead of schedule and has recently been back in training at Melwood.
According to Goal, Salah started participating in light training sessions again at the beginning of the month, but was not fit enough to play in Liverpool's 3-1 win over Burnley at the weekend.
Jurgen Klopp's men are now preparing for a must-win trip to Brentford on February 17, and with Salah now back in first-team action, he could be given a chance off the bench to get his feet back on the ball.
Liverpool will need all three points at Brentford to maintain their lead at the top of the Premier League, and Salah's presence will give them more confidence in their ability to win.
At the age of 31, the Egyptian star is still the club's top scorer with 14 goals, ranking second in the race for the top scorer after Erling Haaland (16 goals).
