Thailand wants to surpass Vietnam on FIFA rankings; Coach Philippe Troussier unexpectedly recruits more players for U23 Vietnam

Thailand wants to surpass Vietnam on FIFA rankings

Vietnam is currently ranked 96th, while Thailand is ranked 111th in FIFA. Although they are 15 places behind the Golden Dragons in the FIFA rankings, the War Elephants want to take advantage of the FIFA Days in March to shorten the gap or use it as a springboard to rise above their opponents.

Therefore, the team led by strategist Mano Polking chose to play friendly matches with two opponents ranked higher than them on the FIFA rankings.

Specifically, they will play against Syria ranked 90th in the world on March 26 and then 3 days later they will continue to face UAE ranked 70th in the world.

Thailand is determined to improve its position in the FIFA rankings on the occasion of FIFA Days in March.

Friendly matches during FIFA Days will be highly rated by FIFA. Therefore, Thailand wants to take this golden opportunity to focus on competing with two higher ranked opponents, in order to improve its position on the FIFA rankings.

To prepare for these friendly matches, Mr. Mano Polking has announced the list of 25 Thai players. The coach with German and Brazilian blood also hopes that Thai fans will continue to cheer and support the national team in the upcoming matches.

"We will try our best to achieve the set goal" - the former head coach of Ho Chi Minh City club emphasized.

Europa League results today March 17: MU laughs, Arsenal cries in hatred

This morning (March 17), the second leg matches of the 1/8 round of the Europa League 2022/2023 took place. The two matches that received the most attention from fans were Real Betis vs. MU and Arsenal vs. Sporting Lisbon.

In the match in Spain, MU with a 4-1 victory in the first leg entered the match very proactively against Real Betis.

The match took place with a tense atmosphere and the deadlock of the match was broken in the 56th minute with a goal by Marcus Rashford. The English striker continued to show his impressive form and scoring efficiency.

Rashford continued to shine to help MU win (Photo: Reuters).

In the end, MU won 1-0. After 2 matches, the English team won 5-1 on aggregate to enter the quarter-finals of the Europa League 2022/2023.

In the match at Emirates Stadium, Arsenal had to win against Sporting Lisbon after being held to a 2-2 draw in the first leg. After 19 minutes of play, Granit Xhaka scored the opening goal for the home team.

In the 62nd minute, Arsenal's midfield lost the ball, the opportunity came to Pote, this player saw Ramsdale moving up so he took a shot from midfield to score the equalizer for the representative from Portugal.

When the match had to go into extra time, it was Antonio Adán who was the hero for Sporting Lisbon when he successfully saved Gabriel Martinelli's penalty kick to help the home team win 5-3 against Arsenal, thereby winning a ticket to the quarter-finals.

Mr. Gianni Infantino re-elected FIFA President

On March 16, the 73rd FIFA Congress took place in Rwanda with the participation of representatives of football federations around the world. This is the second time the FIFA Congress has been held in an African country after South Africa hosted in 2007.

Mr. Gianni Infantino is the only candidate for this position and has received high confidence from the Congress for the position of FIFA President for the 2023-2027 term. This is Mr. Gianni Infantino's third consecutive term as FIFA President.

Mr. Gianni Infantino continues to hold the position of President of the World Football Federation (FIFA) for the period 2023-2027.

"I would like to thank the more than 200 FIFA member associations and six continental confederations for their support. I feel honored to be able to serve the global football community for the next four years," Mr. Gianni Infantino shared on the FIFA homepage.

During the past four years of his term, under the leadership of Mr. Gianni Infantino, FIFA has carried out major reforms, especially in the player transfer system, expanding the scale of tournaments and increasing investment projects for football development in member federations.

Mr. Gianni Infantino also left his mark by expanding the Men's World Cup from 32 teams to 48 teams from 2026, the Women's World Cup from 24 teams to 32 teams from 2023 and the Club World Cup will have 32 participating teams from 2025.

Arsenal want to rescue Eden Hazard

According to information from Fichajes, Arsenal are planning to recruit Eden Hazard from Real Madrid in this summer's transfer window.

Eden Hazard moved to Real Madrid in 2019 for 115 million Euros from Chelsea. Although he was expected to replace Ronaldo, what the Belgian player left behind was only two words: disappointment.

Constant injuries combined with poor integration have left Eden Hazard a shadow of himself. Under the reign of Coach Ancelotti, the player born in 1991 is not appreciated even though he has no health problems.

Currently, Eden Hazard's contract with Real Madrid is still valid until 2024. The Belgian player himself still wants to stay at the Spanish Royal team until the contract expires, but Los Blanos also want to push this player away as soon as possible.

Arsenal want to rescue Eden Hazard. Photo: Getty

According to Fichajes, Arsenal are looking to rescue Eden Hazard from Real Madrid. According to this source, Coach Mikel Arteta is very fond of the Belgian midfielder's talent and wants to bring him back to play in the Premier League.

Since Eden Hazard's contract with Real Madrid only expires in the summer of 2024, the transfer fee for this player is not too high. The biggest obstacle for the Gunners is probably convincing Eden Hazard to reduce his salary.

Coach Philippe Troussier unexpectedly recruited more players for U23 Vietnam

After the 2-1 victory over Phu Tho Club in a friendly match, Coach Philippe Troussier and the coaching staffU23 VietnamThere has been a preliminary assessment of the force before finalizing the list to go to Qatar to attend the U23 Doha Cup 2023.

Accordingly, in order to ensure the depth of the U23 Vietnam squad in the tournament held in Qatar, Coach Philippe Troussier has decided to call up two more players to join the team.

Thanh Nhan (left) and Cong Den (right) were called up to join the U23 Vietnam team.

The two players called up by the French coach are midfielder Huynh Cong Den and striker Nguyen Thanh Nhan. Both of these players were students of Coach Philippe Troussier during their time playing for the Vietnam U19 team.

Of these two players, Huynh Cong Den also participated in the first phase of U23 Vietnam's recent training session, but due to the plan of his home club, Cong Den did not participate in the second phase of training.

On the afternoon of March 16, Thanh Nhan and Cong Den will be present at the U23 Vietnam base. U23 Vietnam will have 2 more training sessions before leaving for Qatar to participate in the tournament on March 18./.