Vietnam U23 team ranked 8th in Asia; VPF consults clubs on V.League organization plan

Kiatisak spent 300 million VND to buy exercise equipment for HAGL?

Recently, HAGL continued to bring new equipment to its gym, which had been invested in billions of dong. Many sources said that,Coach Kiatisakspent 300 million VND out of his own pocket to buy the equipment. In fact, this is not a true story and the mountain town football team has also denied this. “Giving such information can easily cause people to misunderstand. In fact, the team already has a gym, now it is just adding the missing equipment,” said a representative of HAGL.

HAGL Club players at the gym.

Responding to the media, Coach Kiatisak shared: “HAGL has many national players, so we have the responsibility to take care of their legs and help the players achieve the best physical condition to be ready to serve whenever the Vietnam team needs them in August and September”. Currently, HAGL is still practicing with physical tests running on pine hills.

The Mountain City team is still waiting for options to continue playing V.League 2021 or postpone until February 2022. Mr. Nguyen Tan Anh - Head of HAGL Club said that if the tournament is postponed, everything will be very difficult for the teams, including HAGL. The Mountain City team is currently leading the rankings and is considered the biggest candidate for the 2021 championship.

VPF will send a document to get opinions from clubs about the V.League organization plan.

There has been a lot of information recently thatV.League 2021will only return in February 2022. Regarding this issue, VPF Chairman Tran Anh Tu said: “First, the VPF Board of Directors will meet to come up with a plan, then we will send that plan in writing to each club. Maybe by today, July 20, at the latest, that document will be sent to the clubs.

From there, the clubs will give their opinions to reach a consensus, then we will gather them to send to the VFF before submitting to the Federation's Executive Committee. The VFF Executive Committee meeting will be the place to decide when to bring V.League 2021 back and what format to play. Therefore, when the clubs need to carefully study the options and timing to bring V.League back.

There is currently no final decision on the plan to bring back V.League 2021.

Thus, it can be affirmed that up to this point, the plan to move V.League 2021 to early next year has not been finalized and will be discussed carefully before a final decision is made. V.League is currently on hold due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic as well as the plans of the National Team and U23 Vietnam.

Regarding the information that the season will be canceled, Mr. Tran Anh Tu confirmed that it is not true. Mr. Tu said: We cannot cancel the tournament because it will have a huge impact on the whole football industry. The teams have tried very hard, from the preparation stage to the competition in the past, so we cannot erase the entire competition journey.

Not to mention the benefits of sponsors and partners participating in organizing the tournament. We understand the difficulties of the clubs, but VPF also has its own difficulties. It is not possible to play whenever you want, but it depends on many factors and we have to solve each step."

U23 Vietnam ranked 8th in Asia

Footy Ranking statistics site has recently released the latest rankings for U.23 football teams in Asia (to be released by AFC in the near future).

The Vietnam U23 team will train abroad before entering the 2022 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers. Photo: VFF

Accordingly,Vietnam U23 teamIn 2020, they received 23,210 points, thereby rising to 8th place in Asia. The total score up to now of U23 Vietnam is 25,897 points, far surpassing Thailand (20,441 - 13th place), China (20,360 - 14th place)... The total score of 23,210 and 8th place in Asia are considered "record" numbers for U.23 Vietnam. Because, in the past, Footy Ranking and AFC have never given such a large total score to Coach Park Hang-seo and his team.

Currently ranked No. 1 in Asia at the U23 level is South Korea with a total score of 39,780. Right after that is Uzbekistan with 34,306 total points…

Premier League star returns after fractured skull

Striker Raul Jimenez played his first match in eight months since suffering a fractured skull.

Jimenez started Wolves' 1-0 friendly defeat to Crewe FC. Back on the pitch, the Mexican striker was forced to wear a special headgear to protect his head.

According to the Daily Mail, Jimenez will wear this headband for the rest of his career every time he plays. The 30-year-old suffered a serious injury eight months ago. Doctors diagnosed him with a fractured skull.

Jimenez returns to the field for the first time after eight months of injury. Photo: Reuters.

Jimenez's injury occurred during Wolves' match against Arsenal on November 30. Jimenez had a strong collision in the air with defender David Luiz. The Wolves striker was unconscious, while the Brazilian midfielder suffered a laceration to his scalp.

Jimenez joined Wolves on loan in 2018 and after impressing, the club finished 13th in the Premier League last season and signed him from Benfica for £33m.

Since then, Jimenez has become a mainstay for Wolves, scoring 48 goals in 110 games. In two consecutive seasons 2018/19 and 2019/20, Jimenez has always been the team's top scorer.