More overseas Vietnamese players eligible to join Vietnam national team; Premier League sees unprecedented event
The Vietnamese-Thai goalkeeper is eligible to play for the Vietnamese youth team in the near future; the Premier League has seen something unprecedented; Barcelona has created a 7-point gap with Real Madrid... are notable sports news in the past 24 hours.
More overseas Vietnamese players eligible to join Vietnam national team
Thai-Vietnamese goalkeeper Chaloongphum Phong is old enough to compete with U17 Vietnam for a ticket to the World Cup next year.
Recently, HAGL Club announced the successful recruitment of Chaloongphum Phong - a young goalkeeper with mixed Vietnamese and Thai blood. Chaloongphum Phong was born in 2009, with a Thai father and a Vietnamese mother, born in Ho Chi Minh City. The special thing is that this young goalkeeper has Vietnamese nationality, eligible to join the Vietnamese youth team in the near future.
Chaloongphum Phong started practicing goalkeeper at the age of 7, and attended many famous training centers in Thailand such as Suphaburi FC, Bangkok Glass FC, Nonthaburi United, Paris Saint Germain Academy Thailand... Phong won many youth awards and was evaluated by coaches as a promising goalkeeper. Notably, this player can speak 3 languages: Vietnamese, Thai and English.
During his time playing in Thailand, Chaloongphum Phong won many impressive titles. In 2021, he and Ratchaburi Club won the Siam Super Cup. In the same year, Phong was voted Best Goalkeeper and won the Tang-jaeron Cup with Nonthaburi.
With his great development potential, Chaloongphum Phong has also been specially invited by HAGL to practice with the first team recently. Chaloongphum Phong will participate in training and compete in youth tournaments for HAGL in the U17, U19 and U21 HAGL teams in the near future. With a height of 1m87, in the age of development, this 16-year-old goalkeeper has many conditions to become an excellent "goalkeeper" of Vietnamese football in the future.
Chaloongphum Phong is also old enough to be called up to the Vietnam U17 team to compete in the 2026 U17 Asian qualifiers, further into the Asian Finals and compete for a ticket to the 2026 U17 World Cup. The opportunity to participate in the World Cup is still open to the Vietnam U17 team in the next 4 years. From 2025 to 2029, FIFA has decided to organize the annual U17 World Cup Finals and the host country will still be Qatar, increasing great opportunities for young players.
SEA Games champion competes in "strange" event at Vietnam MMA tournament
Nguyen Tien Long - Nguyen Trung Hai won by submission and TKO Tank Club pair Nguyen Xuan Phuong - Nguyen Ngoc Thuc, in the first-time event at the Vietnam MMA tournament.
For the first time in the history of MMA Championship Vietnam, there is a match in the MMA Duo format: a match taking place between 2 fighters from 2 teams at the same time in the ring.
In the matches, the most notable is the match between SEA Games Kickboxing champion Nguyen Xuan Phuong and his national team teammate - Muay Thai Kickboxing champion Nguyen Ngoc Thuc, against the pair Nguyen Tien Long and Nguyen Trung Hai.
As a result, Nguyen Tien Long - Nguyen Trung Hai won by submission and TKO Tank Club pair Nguyen Xuan Phuong - Nguyen Ngoc Thuc.
In addition to the MMA Duo format, this event will also feature MMA Striking, MMA Ground Fight, and MMA Gauntlet. In addition, traditional professional MMA matches will take place with familiar candidates Le Van Tuan, Le Huy Hoang, Bui Dinh Khai, and Liam Arnold.
Premier League sees unprecedented move
Premier League history has recorded a new milestone when semi-automatic offside technology was officially put into use, in the match between Man City and Crystal Palace in round 32.
The technology has played an important role since its debut. In the 28th minute, Eberechi Eze put the ball into the Man City net, seemingly raising the score to 3-0 for Crystal Palace. However, after the new technology's graphics system was activated, the goal was disallowed because Eze was in an offside position before receiving the ball from Ismaila Sarr. The entire checking process only took a few seconds, providing absolute clarity and accuracy.
This is the first time a Premier League goal has been ruled out using semi-automatic offside technology – a technology that made a big impression at the 2022 World Cup. After being approved by all 20 Premier League clubs in April last year, the system was officially activated in England's top flight.
In terms of technical aspects, the match was more dramatic than expected. Although trailing 0-2 after only 21 minutes, Man City fought back strongly. Goals from Kevin De Bruyne, Omar Marmoush, Mateo Kovacic, James McAtee and Nico O'Reilly helped the Etihad team complete a spectacular comeback, winning 5-2.
Man City's brilliant victory and historic technological milestone made the match at the Etihad a memorable evening for English football fans.
Barcelona creates 7-point gap with Real Madrid
In the match between Leganés and Barca in round 31 of La Liga 2024/25, the away team struggled to get 3 points thanks to Saenz's own goal. Thanks to that, Barca firmly held the number 1 position and increased the gap with defending champion Real Madrid.
Barcelona will visit Leganés in round 31 of La Liga 2024/25 with the goal of winning all 3 points to firmly hold the No. 1 position and put pressure on Real Madrid before the defending champion enters the match with Alaves.
Therefore, coach Hansi Flick fielded a very strong squad even though Barca had just played in the European Cup in the middle of the week. Despite being away, Barcelona were in good form and in good spirits, and quickly took the upper hand right after the opening whistle.
However, it was Leganés who had the first dangerous chance and Szczesny made a great save for the visitors. After that, Barca regained control of the game and pushed the pressure back to Leganés. Leganés goalkeeper Dmitrović made a number of excellent saves to keep the home team in the first half.
The surprise happened right at the beginning of the second half. In the 48th minute, under pressure from Barca, Saenz scored an own goal while trying to block Raphinha's cross. After scoring the opening goal, Barcelona continued to attack in search of a second goal.
However, on a day when the strikers wasted many opportunities, Barca could only get a lucky 1-0 victory.
This victory helps Hansi Flick's team temporarily widen the gap with second-placed Real Madrid to 7 points.
Leverkusen "raises white flag" in championship race
On the night of April 12, Leverkusen was held to a 0-0 draw by Union Berlin in round 29 of the Bundesliga.
At home, Leverkusen had 75% possession and 17 shots, but the Bundesliga champions' expected goals (xG) was only 0.71.
As the final whistle blew at the BayArena, coach Xabi Alonso looked disappointed. The result means Leverkusen are still five points behind Bayern Munich, having played a game more. If Vincent Kompany's men beat Dortmund tonight, the gap between the two title contenders will widen to eight points.
From the very first minutes, Leverkusen showed their superiority with a fast attack from Jeremie Frimpong. The Dutch full-back broke through strongly, creating space in the penalty area and then fired a shot, but the ball missed the goal by a hair.
After the missed situation, the home team seemed to have conceded an early goal when Andrej Ilic put the ball in the net after a quick combination, but the goal was disallowed for offside.
Leverkusen continued to control the game and create many chances. In the 30th minute, striker Patrik Schick had a delicate move in the penalty area before swinging his foot, but the ball went just wide of the post. Despite seven shots in the first half, the home team only had one shot on target, a number that showed their ineffectiveness in taking advantage of opportunities.
In the second half, Alonso decided to increase the attack by bringing on Florian Wirtz. This change immediately had an effect when Wirtz delicately passed the ball to Exequiel Palacios, forcing Union goalkeeper Frederik Ronnow to make an excellent save.
However, Union did not only know how to defend. In a rare counter-attack, they shook Leverkusen's goal with a dangerous shot from Lucas Tousart. Unfortunately for the visitors, substitute Benedict Hollerbach failed to take advantage of the opportunity when he shot the ball straight at goalkeeper Hradecky.
In search of a late equaliser, as they had done against Heidenheim, Leverkusen pressed forward in the closing minutes. However, Union defended firmly and kept their net, leaving the field with a valuable point.
