V.League 2020 expected to return on September 12; Determining MU's opponent in the Europa League semi-finals

Tottenham announce first new signing this summer

Danish midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg became Tottenham's first new signing of the summer transfer window.

Early morning of August 12 (Hanoi time), Tottenham's homepage announced the successful recruitment of midfielder Hojbjerg from Southampton. According to Sky Sports, the London team lost 15 million pounds for this deal. In addition to Tottenham, Everton is also interested in Hojbjerg. However, the blue half of Merseyside is not the preferred destination of the player born in 1995.

Hojbjerg made his Tottenham debut after passing his medical. Photo: Tottenham

Hojbjerg is a versatile player. He can play well in positions such as central midfielder, defensive midfielder and center back. In the 2019/20 season, he played 40 matches and had 1 assist. In the last 4 Premier League seasons, this midfielder has played regularly for Southampton, averaging more than 27 matches/season.

Coach Minh Phuong leaves Ho Chi Minh City Club after 2 weeks of taking up the job

Nguyen Minh Phuong will be the coach for Juventus Football Academy in Ba Ria Vung Tau after leaving Ho Chi Minh City Club.

The original plan of the Ho Chi Minh City team was to have Minh Phuong as an assistant to Mr. Ailton Silva. Chairman and interim coach Nguyen Huu Thang will hand over the team when the new head coach arrives in Ho Chi Minh City.

Former player Minh Phuong will no longer work for Ho Chi Minh City Club. Photo: Mai Anh.

Mr. Chung returned to work with many conditions that needed to be met. The coach born in 1958 did not need any more assistants, so Minh Phuong was forced to end his work early after a few training sessions with interim coach Huu Thang.

Minh Phuong said: "I will work at Juventus Academy next week if the procedure is completed. I don't know when I can return, maybe next year." Minh Phuong led Da Nang Club in the 2018 season and Binh Phuoc Club in 2019.

V.League 2020 expected to return on September 12

VPF sent 2 plans to organize professional football tournaments in Vietnam as early as September 5 with the National Cup and September 12 with V.League 2020.

The condition for Vietnam Professional Football Joint Stock Company (VPF) to carry out the plan to bring football back is that the Covid-19 epidemic is controlled by the Government from mid-August. Accordingly, the teams will have at least 15 days to prepare.

Option 1: The quarter-finals of the 2020 National Cup are scheduled to take place on September 5 and 6. The two semi-finals will be held on November 1 and the final will take place on December 13.

Vietnamese football is expected to return in early September, VPF did not mention the possibility of matches without spectators. Photo: Quang Thinh

Option 2:The National Cup will have quarter-finals from September 12 and 13, quarter-finals on September 19 and finals on December 23. V.League 2020 returns later with round 12 scheduled to take place on October 18.

The relegation zone ends on December 12, while the eight-team championship group will end on December 19. Round 10 of the first phase of the First Division returns on September 25 and ends on November 29.

If the AFC Cup 2020 is suspended by the organizers, VPF will adjust the competition schedule so that domestic tournaments end according to option 1.

In case the competition plan cannot be implemented as planned, VPF will report to the Vietnam Football Federation so that VFF can exercise the right to decide on suitable options according to the actual situation.

Identifying MU's opponents in the Europa League semi-finals

After the remaining two quarter-final matches taking place early this morning, the two pairs in the semi-finals of the Europa League 2019-2020 have been determined.

At the MSV-Arena, Wolverhampton started the game better than Sevilla. In the 11th minute, the "Wolves" had a good chance to open the score when they were awarded a penalty, but Raul Jimenez could not beat goalkeeper Bono at the 11m mark.

MU meets Sevilla in the semi-finals. Photo: Getty

Meanwhile, Shakhtar Donetsk easily "crushed" FC Basel with a result of 4-1 thanks to goals from Junior Moraes (2'), Taison (22'), Alan Patrick (75' pen) and Dodo (88'). Basel's honorary goal came from Ricky van Wolfswinkel (90+2').

With this result, Sevilla will face MU in the semi-finals taking place in the early morning of August 17 (Vietnam time), while Shakhtar Donetsk will face Inter Milan a day later. The round for the 4 strongest clubs also does not have a first and second leg.

Vietnam to host 2021 AFC U23 qualifiers

In planning for next year, the Vietnamese national team has many notable training sessions to prepare for international tournaments. Among them, the 2021 AFC U23 qualifiers are expected to take place in Vietnam.

Specifically, the Vietnam national team will participate in major tournaments. Notably, the AFF Suzuki Cup 2020 will aim to defend the championship. This tournament is scheduled to take place from April 11 to May 8, 2021. Accordingly, this year, Coach Park Hang-seo and his team are expected to gather in 5 stages, including:

Phase 1: From March 22 to March 30, 2021; Phase 2: From May 31 to June 8, 2021; Phase 3: From August 30 to September 7, 2021; Phase 4: From October 4 to October 12, 2021; Phase 5: From November 8 to November 16, 2021.

Vietnam team

In the youth teams, U23 Vietnam will gather to participate in 2 major playgrounds. Accordingly, U23 Vietnam will participate in the 2021 U23 Asian qualifiers, scheduled from October 23 to 31, 2021 in Vietnam and the 31st SEA Games scheduled from November 21 to December 2, also in Vietnam.