'Black market' tickets for the 2024 AFF Cup final are priced incredibly; Ronaldo may leave Saudi Arabia

Ronaldo may leave Saudi Arabia

Marca reported that Ronaldo did not deny the possibility of leaving Saudi Arabia when his current contract with Al Nassr ends. CR7 does not want to end his football career in the Middle East. This information comes in the context of Ronaldo's intention to attend the 2030 World Cup with the Portuguese team.

Ronaldo joined Al Nassr Club in 2022, after agreeing to terminate his contract with Manchester United due to conflicts with coach Erik ten Hag. At Al Nassr, Ronaldo still showed impressive scoring form, but repeatedly expressed disappointment because the team's performance on the field was not as expected.

Sources from the Saudi Arabian media said that the Al Nassr Board of Directors hopes that Ronaldo will continue to stay, and at the same time promote negotiations to extend the contract with CR7. Ronaldo will turn 40 in February 2025, but has no intention of ending his football career.

Ronaldo could return to Europe to play, to nurture hopes of participating in the 2026 World Cup and even the 2030 World Cup. Previously, in early December, Ronaldo admitted that he was "enjoying every moment of his career" and not thinking too much about the future.

Thailand called up young MU striker

Siam Sport reported that Madam Pang, President of the Football Association of Thailand (FAT), has successfully persuaded Silva Mexes to play for the U17 team of the Golden Temple. The striker, who has Thai and Welsh blood, will participate in the U17 Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia in 2025.

Mexes, whose mother is Thai, plays as a striker for Manchester United's U16 team. Kai Rooney, Wayne Rooney's son, also plays for the team.

Mexes' father is the famous footballer Robert Earnshaw, who played for West Brom, Norwich and Nottingham Forest. He holds a rare record in English football, being the only person to score a hat-trick in the Premier League, Championship, League One, League Two, FA Cup, League Cup and the Wales national team.

The Mexes family plans to return to Thailand in February 2025, so FAT easily convinced this player to wear the U17 "War Elephants" shirt, as a stepping stone for this young talent to agree to play for the national team in the future.

In June 2024, Mexes officially joined Manchester United, after receiving many offers from other clubs in the Premier League.

“It is a really proud moment for me and my family to sign for Manchester United. Thank you to everyone who has helped me on my adventure. The hard work starts now,” Mexes said at the time.

Black market tickets for the 2024 AFF Cup final are priced incredibly high.

Tickets for the 2024 AFF Cup final are being advertised at prices 2.5 to 3.5 times higher than the original price, even reaching unimaginable levels.

All final ticketsAFF Cup 2024 The online ticket sales were sold out 30 minutes after they reopened. Previously, the ticket sales portal had problems due to overload right after the scheduled opening time of 8am. The ticket distribution channel via the app was reopened around 11:30am.

"With the heat of the first leg of the ASEAN Cup 2024 final, OneU has recorded tens of millions of visits before the sale opening time. Due to the limited capacity of Viet Tri Stadium, all online tickets were sold out just 30 minutes after the re-sale opening," said the ticket distribution partner of the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF).

Unlike the semi-final, all tickets for the first leg of the AFF Cup 2024 final are sold online. VFF and local match organizers do not sell tickets directly.

As soon as the tickets were sold out, the black market became active. In groups buying and selling football tickets on social networks, there were announcements of buying large quantities of tickets at high prices.

Some accounts are selling 500,000 VND tickets for 2.5 million VND/pair, which is 2.5 times the original price. Tickets worth 1 million VND are being sold for 3.5 times (7 million VND/pair). Some people are even selling VIP tickets (invitation tickets) for an "unimaginable" price of 30-40 million VND/pair.

The first leg of the AFF Cup 2024 final will take place at 8:00 p.m. on January 2 at Viet Tri Stadium (Phu Tho). This is the first time this venue has hosted a regional tournament final. The national team and youth teams of Vietnam have never lost when playing at Viet Tri Stadium.

Indonesian media continuously praises Vietnam team

The Vietnamese team won a ticket to the final of the ASEAN Cup 2024 after defeating Singapore 3-1 in the second leg (winning 5-1 after 2 matches). The army ofCoach Kim Sang-sik won by a big margin against the opponent with 2 goals from Xuan Son and Tien Linh.

Indonesian media was impressed with the victory of coach Kim Sang-sik and his team against Singapore at Viet Tri Stadium.

CNN Indonesia commented: "Vietnam teamadvance to the final of the ASEAN Cup 2024. They also have the opportunity to win the third title in this tournament. In the history of the AFF Cup, Vietnam has reached the final 4 times in 1998, 2008, 2018 and 2022. In these 4 times, the Vietnam team has won the championship twice, in 2008 and 2018. With the success of reaching the final of the ASEAN Cup 2024, Xuan Son and his friends have the opportunity to win the third title."

Meanwhile, Bola specifically mentioned Xuan Son and Tien Linh, the duo of players who scored for the “Golden Dragons”: "Vietnam's victory in front of the fans cannot be separated from the important role of naturalized striker Xuan Son, who scored a successful double in this match. Tien Linh then executed the penalty very well to put his team ahead in the 90'+3 minute".

Kompas specifically mentioned Xuan Son: "Vietnam entered the final of the ASEAN Cup 2024 with Nguyen Xuan Son being so excellent in attack. In the second leg of the semi-final, there was a remarkable image when 2 Singaporean players struggled to keep up with Xuan Son in a dispute in the middle of the field"./.