Van Duc is in the Top 4 best players of the first leg of the AFF Cup 2018 semi-finals

Phan Van Duc is one of the 4 best players in the first leg.

Surprisingly selected to start against the Philippines, Phan Van Duc proved that coach Park Hang-seo was completely right to put his trust in this striker.

Phan Van Duc was voted the best player in Vietnam's win over the Philippines by the AFF website. The 22-year-old striker from Nghe An continued to be honored by Fox Sport Asia, chosen as one of the four best players in the first leg of the 2018 AFF Cup semi-finals.

In addition to Van Duc, Fox Sport Asia also selected 3 other excellent players: Syamer Kutty Abba (Malaysia), Mika Chunuonsee (Thailand) and Phil Younghusband of the Philippines. Meanwhile, Tan Cheng Hoe was chosen as the best coach in the first leg of the AFF Cup 2018 semi-finals because of his reasonable tactics that helped Malaysia completely overwhelm the championship candidate Thailand at Bukit Jalil Stadium.

Coach Park Hang-seo gives bonus to his students

After nearly a week of training and competing in a foreign country, on the afternoon of December 3, the Vietnam national team landed at Noi Bai airport. According to the original plan, coach Park Hang-seo wanted the players to practice that afternoon, but then withdrew the decision and let everyone rest completely.

The players are free to move around until they return to practice this afternoon (December 4) at My Dinh Stadium. This can be considered a worthy reward for the efforts the players have put in over the past few days.

Strange rule in AFF Cup semi-final makes "some happy, others worried"

Southeast Asia's number one tournament not only creates curiosity with its home and away format in the group stage, but also has rules that make the knockout stage more attractive.

From the semi-finals, the home leg format is applied. If there is no improvement, the teams playing the second leg at home always have the advantage because they have the advantage in the extra 30 minutes, if the aggregate score of the two matches at the end of 90 minutes of the second leg is still a draw. That is something that the home team cannot have. Thailand, after drawing 0-0 with Malaysia away, seemed satisfied, precisely because of this point. They only need to beat the "Malay Tiger", with any score to advance.

Therefore, to be fairer to the teams playing the second leg away, the AFF Cup Organizing Committee added a detail in Article 7, Clause 3, which clearly states: “If the total score after 2 matches, at the end of 90 minutes of the second leg is a draw, the team that scores more goals away from home will advance. If the two teams score the same number of goals away from home, the match will have 2 extra periods, each 15 minutes. During extra time, if the two teams do not score, the two teams will take a penalty shootout. If the two teams score the same number of goals, the away team's goals will be doubled.”

This is the point that makes Thailand, even though they play at home in the second leg, worried. If Thailand and Malaysia each score 1 goal in extra time, according to the previous rules, the two teams will go to penalty shootout. In the AFF Cup 2018, Thailand will be eliminated.

Southampton fires coach after draw with MU

Southampton FC has just decided to sack manager Mark Hughes despite only signing a 3-year contract with him in May. The decision was made right after Southampton's 2-2 draw with MU, pushing the team down to 18th place in the Premier League. Under the leadership of Mark Hughes, Southampton only had 5 wins after 27 matches. Currently, assistant Kelvin Davis is temporarily taking over the job of leading the team before Southampton finds a new coach. Former RB Leipzig coach Ralph Hasenhuttl is in the sights of the English team.

Klopp fined for crazy celebration

Striker Divock Origi's late goal in the 90+6 minute of injury time sent Anfield Stadium into a frenzy as it helped Liverpool secure three points against Everton in a dramatic Merseyside derby. Unable to hide his joy, coach Juergen Klopp rushed onto the pitch to hug goalkeeper Alisson Becker in celebration before the referee blew the final whistle.

Immediately after the match, Klopp apologized for his actions in a press conference. However, the English Football Association (FA) still decided to punish Klopp as a deterrent. The deadline for coach Klopp to appeal will be 6:00 p.m. on December 6 (UK time).

Chelsea "ties down" key players

According to Goal, The Blues have successfully convinced right-back Cesar Azpilicueta to extend his contract. The Spanish star will stay at Stamford Bridge until at least 2022 and receive a salary of 150,000 pounds/week, an increase of 30,000 pounds/week compared to the old contract.

VAR to be used from the Champions League round of 16

The European Football Federation (EUFA) has confirmed that VAR will be used from the knockout stages of this year's Champions League. UEFA President Ceferin said: "We are ready to use VAR earlier than originally planned and we believe it will benefit the game, support referees and reduce wrong decisions."

Modric won the 2018 Golden Ball

Similar to FIFA's The Best award, Modric's Ballon d'Or win ended a decade of Ronaldo and Messi's dominance. This was a reward for helping Real Madrid win the Champions League for the third consecutive time and taking Croatia to the World Cup final.

Winning the Ballon d'Or also concluded a year full of personal glory for Modric. Previously, he won the World Cup Best Player, UEFA Best Player and The Best awards.

This year, France Football magazineThe first Ballon d'Or was awarded to women. And the winner was Ada Hegerberg, the Norwegian star who helped Lyon women's team win the European Championship last season. To win the title, Hegerberg had to overcome a series of strong opponents such as Pernille Harder, teammate Dzsenifer Marozsan, Marta and Sam Kerr.

Mbappe wins Kopa award for best U21 player in the world

19-year-old striker Kylian Mbappe has surpassed a series of bright young talents to become the first winner of the Kopa award presented by France Football.

This is the first time France Football has awarded the Kopa Award, which is given to the best player under the age of 21. The award is named after Raymond Kopa, a former Real Madrid and France midfielder who died last year at the age of 85.

However, even before former player David Ginola announced the name of the first owner of the Kopa Award at the Gala in Paris in the early morning of December 4, most people had already guessed that the person could only be Kylian Mbappe. Simply because what Mbappe did in 2018 was even the dream of many of the world's top players throughout their careers. And in fact, this player won with more than half of the votes, 55%.

MU buy Verratti to replace Pogba

Coach Jose Mourinho and Paul Pogba once again had a conflict, after the 2-2 draw with Southampton.

Pogba's attitude has made Mourinho and MU's board of directors unhappy. The Red Devils are ready to sell the French player to "clean up" the internal affairs.

Not only is he capable of competing, Verratti is also a midfielder who can organize the game very well. To get Verratti from PSG, MU will certainly have to spend at least 70 million pounds.

American prodigy "confessed" to Liverpool

Borussia Dortmund midfielder Christian Pulisic would prefer to move to Liverpool rather than Chelsea if he were to leave the German club, according to the Evening Standard. Borussia Dortmund are said to want up to £70 million back for the 20-year-old.