Outstanding sporting events of 2014

Vietnamese football experienced a year of mixed joys and sorrows related to the U19, AFF Cup, success and failure at the ASIAD or match-fixing in the V-League... Meanwhile, Germany became the new World Cup champion and Real Madrid won the Champions League for the 10th time.

Founded with the core of players from the HAGL Arsenal JMG Academy, U19 Vietnam suddenly became a phenomenon, attracting special attention from fans thanks to its attacking football philosophy, beautiful play, cultural behavior and continuous success. In 2014, the team won the runner-up position in the U19 Southeast Asian Open Championship, and finished second in the friendly tournament for the Brunei King's Cup. After the defeat in the U19 Asian finals, key members such as Cong Phuong, Xuan Truong, Tuan Anh... won the U21 International Championship held in Can Tho.

Cong Phuong and his teammates received special attention from fans. Photo: Duc Dong.

“Nowhere in the world is a young football team as passionately followed as in Vietnam,” coach Guillaume Graechen exclaimed when he saw My Dinh Stadium, which has a capacity of 40,000 people, full, thousands of people lining up all night to buy tickets, or the stands glowing red even when the team played abroad.

In the whirlwind of that interest, captain Nguyen Cong Phuong became the unwilling center of attention with age fraud suspicions. The fact that the striker from Nghe An was born in 1993 or 1995 became a topic of discussion for a long time, with many different opinions. The authorities then had to intervene. According to the Nghe An Department of Justice, the striker of Hoang Anh Gia Lai was actually born in 1995 as stated on his birth certificate.

2. Match-fixing casts a shadow over V-League

In early April, the scandal in Ninh Binh was exposed after a series of "smelly" matches. The investigation agency later determined that a group of players from the ancient capital team had fixed the score in the 3-2 victory at Kelantan's field in the AFC Cup. A total of nine people were later brought to court, among them midfielder Tran Manh Dung was identified as the mastermind and received a 30-month prison sentence. After this scandal, the Ninh Binh team withdrew from the V-League, but still struggled to compete in the AFC Cup and only stopped at the quarter-finals.

Footballer Tran Manh Dung received a 30-month prison sentence. Photo: Lam Thoa.

Before it could recover, the national number one tournament was dealt another blow when six Dong Nai players were arrested after the loss to Quang Ninh on July 20. This group was accused of fixing the loss to Quang Ninh for 400 million VND. While the investigation agency completed the documents to bring the case to trial, Dong Nai continued to compete in the 2014 V-League and despite the absence of six key players, they still successfully stayed in the league.

In both cases, the "involved" players were banned from playing for a long time by the VFF and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The image of Vietnamese football in the eyes of friends in the continent and the world, which was already not good, was once again tarnished.

3. Vietnamese women's football missed the chance to attend the World Cup

The 3-1 victory over Jordan gave the Asian zone’s play-off ticket to the 2015 World Cup to coach Tran Van Phat and his team. Never before has Vietnamese football been so close to the world stage as this time. However, at the time when courage is needed the most, our girls could not show much.

The female players were disappointed after missing out on a valuable opportunity to reach the big ocean. Photo: Duc Dong.

In the match at Thong Nhat Stadium on May 21, the team suffered a 1-2 defeat against rival Thailand, ending a long period of confidence building since the team won third place in Group B of the Asian Cup. Chinese coach Tran Van Phat then left, ending seven years of successful association. This defeat also set off strong changes for women's football in terms of generational transition, care conditions and treatment.

4. Vietnam had a breakthrough at ASIAD 17 despite not reaching the medal target

The Vietnamese sports delegation ended the 2014 ASIAD in Incheon, South Korea, with 36 medals, including one gold medal, 10 silver medals and 25 bronze medals, ranking 21st out of 36 participating delegations and below five other countries in the Southeast Asian region: Thailand (12 gold medals), Malaysia (5), Singapore (5), Indonesia (4), Myanmar (2).

Anh Vien, as well as Kim Tuan in weightlifting, are bright spots of the Vietnamese sports delegation in the Asian arena. Photo: Lam Thoa.

The only gold medal of Duong Thuy Vi (wushu) was not enough to help the Vietnamese team reach the set target, but this was not a complete failure. For the first time in history, Vietnamese swimming won a medal at the ASIAD when Anh Vien finished third in the 400m medley. Besides that, there was the ASIAD record for snatch in the 56kg category by Thach Kim Tuan, the men's football team entered the quarterfinals for the first time with the top position in the group, the first medals in gymnastics by Phan Thi Ha Thanh...

5. The tragedy of the Vietnamese team at the AFF Cup 2014

The Vietnam team under coach Toshiya Miura is making positive changes. Photo: Lam Thoa.

Despite the unexpected success of the Olympic team at the Asian Games and the lucky draw that helped the team avoid the deadly Group B, the Vietnamese team was still not highly regarded ahead of the 2014 AFF Cup. That pessimism stemmed from the decline in quality of the V-League and the limited experience of head coach Toshiya Miura, who had only started work six months before the tournament and had never worked at the national team level before. But when entering the tournament, the Vietnamese team, with its youthful squad and dedicated attacking style of play, played better and better, finishing first in Group A with a convincing 3-1 victory over the Philippines in the final match. Expectations peaked when Miura's team then won 2-1 away to Malaysia in the first leg of the semi-finals.

From being expected, the Vietnamese team (red) unexpectedly suffered a heavy defeat in the second leg of the semi-finals. Photo: Lam Thoa.

However, when the media, fans and players were all convinced that the home team would secure a spot in the final, when the phrase "champion" had been mentioned many times, the team unexpectedly suffered a 2-4 defeat in the second leg at My Dinh. In the first half, the home team conceded four goals. Cong Vinh's two equalizers were only enough to spark a glimmer of hope before they disappeared. Vietnam lost with a total score of 4-5 after two matches and was eliminated.

6. Real Madrid won the European Championship for the 10th time

On May 24, Real defeated Atletico Madrid 4-1 in the Champions League final to complete the Decima dream. This was a milestone in the history of the Bernabeu team as well as European football when for the first time a team won this prestigious tournament 10 times. The team right behind Real is AC Milan with seven titles.

Real Madrid is the most fearsome force in world football at the club level. Photo: Guardian.

After completing the group stage with five wins and a draw, Real quickly established themselves as favourites with two 9-2 aggregate wins over Schalke in the round of 16. The Whites lost just once, 2-0 to Dortmund (after winning 3-0 in the first leg of the quarter-finals), demolishing Bayern Munich 5-0 on aggregate before beating Atletico in the final. Cristiano Ronaldo played a big part in Real's success. The striker scored 17 goals throughout the 2013-14 Champions League season, breaking Lionel Messi's goalscoring record.

7. Germany won the 2014 World Cup

The title that Germany achieved was not the result of luck, coincidence or temporary, but also the sweet fruit after a long period of careful investment, trial - error - correction. Starting from 2004, after the failure at Euro, the Germans focused on youth training and innovation on the coaching bench. Jurgen Klinsmann, then Joachim Low, created a German team that combined the scientific nature of the past with the passionate attacking style of youth. In the following Euros and World Cups, their worst achievement was reaching the semi-finals.

Germany convincingly won the championship. Photo: AFP.

Low's journey this year has not been smooth, but has always shown a reasonable strategy in dealing with each opponent. They may have had difficulties against Algeria and Ghana, but they played explosively against host Brazil with a 7-1 victory in the semi-finals. The German spirit was re-enacted in the final against Argentina, demonstrated by Mario Gotze's only goal in extra time. Germany became the first European team to win the World Cup in South America, along with an unbeaten record and the most goals.

8. Hamilton ends Vettel's F1 dominance

Sebastian Vettel's dream of equalling Michael Schumacher's record of five consecutive world championships was dashed in a season full of surprises. The departure of former teammate Mark Webber left Vettel without a strong back-up, while other teams made strides in terms of technology and personnel. The champion ultimately dropped to fifth place, without a single race win and two places behind new teammate Daniel Ricciardo.

Lewis Hamilton and teammate Nico Rosberg have almost completely dominated the F1 race track over the past year. Photo: AFP.

Taking advantage of Vettel and Red Bull's internal problems, the Mercedes AMG team won big, winning both the drivers' and teams' championships. The two drivers of this team, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, continued to make impressive first- and second-place finishes. Hamilton won a total of 11 races, taking the championship with 384 points. Rosberg also won five and was only 67 points behind. This is the second time Hamilton has won the world championship, after his first in 2008 with McLaren. With 11 wins this season, Hamilton also became the British driver with the most wins in history, with a total of 33.

According to VNE