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Every second counts for Cristiano

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Cristiano Ronaldo will wear the number seven, of course, at his new club Al Nassr. Photo courtesy of Al Nassr FC

Paul Kennedy

On average it will take you about five minutes to read this column. It’s between 500 and 600 words, and most people read at a pace of about 125 words per minute, give or take.

So bear that in mind when I tell you that in those five minutes, if you can stick it out all the way to the end, Cristiano Ronaldo will reportedly have earned $9,240.

His salary at his new club, Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia, is thought to be a whopping $213 million per year. After a few basic calculations, it works out somewhere in the region of $1,848 a minute.

That’s $30 a second and I’ve not even touched upon the huge amount of advertisement and sponsorship deals that are bound to fall into his lap in Saudi.

There’s an old joke that when someone is earning so much money, it begs the question: “Are they actually happy?”

Gag being, on that much money, then of course they are happy. But I’m not so sure in this instance.

Ronaldo is certainly one of the greatest footballers of my generation, and although his best years are behind him, I think he may have been a little disappointed that there were not that many suitors in Europe looking to snap him up.

So instead he’s joined Al Nassr, who currently sit top of the Saudi Premier League.

The team from Riyadh is the most successful in the country. At the domestic level, the club has won nine Premier League titles, six King’s Cups, three Crown Prince’s Cups, three Federation Cups, and two Saudi Super Cups.

At the international level, they have won two GCC Champions Leagues and earned a historic Asian double in 1998 by claiming both the Asian Cup Winners’ Cup and the Asian Super Cup.

Pretty impressive I guess, but for Ronaldo, he won’t be facing the same kind of Premier League or European challengers at his new club.

In fact, it’s going to be nothing more than a Ronaldo swansong to add even more cash to his bulging bank account before he finally decides to hang up his boots, and that’s a shame.

You see for me, I always favoured Ronaldo over Messi in the greatest player debate, but after the way his career capitulated, all by his own hand, at Manchester United, he went down in my estimation.

There’s a famous saying in football that no player is bigger than the club, which was certainly the case at Old Trafford. Ronaldo spoke out against United on national television and not long before he’d removed his microphone, United announced they were sacking him.

But at Saudi he’ll turn that saying on its head as he is bigger than the club. Sure, he’ll sell shirts, put more bums on seats at the Mrsool Park stadium (which incidentally only has a capacity of 25,000), and hopefully will influence some of the other Al Nassr players.

However if you think he’s going there to further his career, then think again, he’s going purely and simply to further his bank balance, not that it actually needs any more, and that’s sad. VNS

Source: http://ovietnam.vn/sports/every-second-counts-for-cristiano_340749.html

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Việt Nam ready for Iraqi challenge at Doha Cup

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Football

Vietnamese players training for the 2023 Doha Cup in Qatar. Việt Nam will play Iraq on March 22. Photos courtesy of the VFF

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam’s U23 team, along with their coach Phillipe Troussier, are gearing up for the Doha Cup, a friendly tournament serving as a warm-up ahead of the 32nd SEA Games.

With high expectations from national supporters and coach Troussier alike, Việt Nam are hoping for some impressive wins.

“Players will gain invaluable experience through matches, making the Doha event incredibly important,” said Troussier, who has been in charge of the team for almost a month. “It will serve as a strong foundation for the team at the SEA Games.”

This will be Troussier’s debut tournament with Việt Nam, and he is hoping his players won’t be too hard on themselves if they make mistakes. His aim is for them to learn from their errors and never repeat them.

Ten teams are set to participate in the U23 Doha Cup, with each team facing off against two others in the first round. The organisers will determine the match-ups for the second round based on the results.

Việt Nam are scheduled to play Iraq and the UAE on March 22nd and 26th, respectively, in the late evening, as the games fall within the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, a time of fasting, prayer, reflection and community.

With such a high-stakes tournament and a challenging schedule, Vietnam’s U23 team and their fans eagerly await the excitement ahead.

French Phillipe Troussier will have his first tournament as head coach of the U23 Việt Nam at the Doha Cup from March 22-29. — Photo courtesy of the VFF

To prepare for the late evening matches in the Doha Cup, coach Troussier had his players train during the same hours as the competition, from 10pm to midnight.

“When we are on the field, it is 2am in Việt Nam time,” said goalkeeper Quan Văn Chuẩn. “It is difficult to avoid jetlag. However, our team staff and assistants are doing a good job, helping us to adjust to the new time zone.

“We are doing well with the training time and catching the pace of the coaches’ plans. My team and I are ready for the tournament. We will do the best for the highest results,”

Iraqi coach Radi Shenaishel said his biggest problems were that players do not have enough training together and the Ramadan holiday.

During the holy time, Muslims abstain from eating and drinking during the daytime, usually from dawn until dusk.

Of his 25-player squad, Shenaishel has called several who are playing in Europe, such as Evert Baram (Nuremberg, Germany), Mustafa Omran (U19 Atalanta, Italy), Hani Noseir (Trelleborg, Sweden) and Manuel Iylia (U21 Twente, Netherlands).

These players could only join the rest of the team on March 20 and had only two days of training together.

After Việt Nam, Iraq will play South Korea on March 26. 

However, Shenaishel is not put much weight on the cup. He said it was an opportunity for him to test players’ quality.

Even though a poor result would make his team receive criticism, Doha Cup is just a warm-up for larger events such as the West Asian U23 Championship and the 2024 Paris Olympic qualification.

The tournament will be live broadcast on FPT Play’s multi-platforms. VNS

Source: http://ovietnam.vn/sports/viet-nam-ready-for-iraqi-challenge-at-doha-cup_342625.html

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Walkers finish in top 10 at Asian championship

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Athletics

Vietnamese athletes (from left) Nguyễn Thành Ngưng, Nguyễn Thị Thanh Phúc, Nguyễn Thị Vân and Võ Xuân Vĩnh and coach Trần Anh Hiệp (centre) pose in Japan for the Asian Race Walking Championship. Photo courtesy of Nguyễn Thị Thanh Phúc

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese athletes did not earn a ticket to the Olympic Games, although they completed better than expected and reached the top 10 at the Asian 20km Race Walking Championship in Nomi, Japan, on March 19.

SEA Games champion Nguyễn Thị Thanh Phúc finished sixth in the women’s category with a time of 1hr 45.45min. Teammate Nguyễn Thị Vân was fourth in the women’s open at 1:56.35.

The winner was Gao Lan of China who walked 1:29.25. She was followed by Ayane Yanai of the host (1:30.58) and Indian Priyanka Priyanka (1:32.27).

None of them qualified for the Paris Olympics as the standard time is 1:29.20.

On the men’s side, Nguyễn Thành Ngưng came seventh with a time of 1:30.27 while SEA Games champion Võ Xuân Vĩnh was seventh in the men’s open clocking in at 1:33.08.

Ngưng cut seven minutes from his time compared to what he did last May to take a SEA Games bronze medal. Vĩnh meanwhile did not reach his best after he switched to compete in triathlons for months and just practised walking recently. He walked 0.76sec slower than in the SEA Games.

Indian Akshdeep Singh (1:20.57), South Korean Choe Byeongkwang (1:21.20) and Chinese Wen Yongjie (1:22:44) were the top three finishers.

The Olympic standard to beat for the men is 1:20.10.

“It was my first Asian tournament since 2019. I met with strong rivals, I had not seen and walked against most of them before,” Phúc told Việt Nam News.

“In this fifth continental tournament, I found that many walkers were powerful but young. At my age of 31, I think that the result of 1:45.45 is really good. It makes me still on top of ASEAN,” she said.

The four athletes flew back home to continue training for the May SEA Games in Cambodia. Walk races will be held in Siem Reap on May 16. VNS

Source: http://ovietnam.vn/sports/walkers-finish-in-top-10-at-asian-championship_342604.html

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Vietnamese defends WBA Asia belt at professional boxing tournament

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Vietnamese boxer Truong Dinh Hoang successfully defended his WBA Asia title at the LEAD: Born to Lead professional boxing tournament in Ho Chi Minh City on Saturday evening.

Hoang faced Baek Dae Hyun from South Korea in the match for the WBA Asia super middleweight belt.

Both Hoang and Baek showed confidence in their fighting techniques and tactics.

The two boxers exchanged lightning speed attacks with powerful hooks throughout the rounds.

Hoang began to have the edge over his opponent in the seventh round as he dished out accurate punches.

The Vietnamese boxer won the overall battle and successfully defended his WBA Asia super middleweight belt.

Nguyen Ngoc Hai reacts after defeating Campee Phayom at the LEAD: Born to Lead professional boxing tournament in Ho Chi Minh City, March 25, 2023. Photo: H.T. / Tuoi Tre

Nguyen Ngoc Hai reacts after defeating Campee Phayom at the LEAD: Born to Lead professional boxing tournament in Ho Chi Minh City, March 25, 2023. Photo: H.T. / Tuoi Tre

In the match for the WBA South Asia super-lightweight title, Nguyen Ngoc Hai from Vietnam faced Campee Phayom, a very strong contender from Thailand.

The turning point occurred in the second round when Campee lost his focus, allowing Hai to continuously dish out his attacks.

The Thai boxer fell down twice and tried to continue the fight, but the referee decided to stop the match and announced the technical knock-out victory for Hai.

At the tournament, Le Huu Toan, the reigning Asian mini-weight champion who ranks eight in the WBA world rankings, was challenged by Garen Diagan, former Filipino professional boxing champion in 2019.

Both Toan and Diagan started off the fight with powerful attacks.

Le Huu Toan (R) and Garen Diagan at the LEAD: Born to Lead professional boxing tournament in Ho Chi Minh City, March 25, 2023. Photo: H.T. / Tuoi Tre

Le Huu Toan (R) and Garen Diagan at the LEAD: Born to Lead professional boxing tournament in Ho Chi Minh City, March 25, 2023. Photo: H.T. / Tuoi Tre

The Vietnamese boxer dominated the following rounds with his combinations of horizontal hooks and uppercuts, while Diagan played defense and managed to have many successful counterattacks.

Toan had his chance to finish off his opponent, but Diagan was able to evade the attacks thanks to his impressive stamina.

After 12 rounds, Diagan defeated Toan by just one point and won the WBA Asia mini-weight belt.

LEAD: Born to Lead is the largest professional boxing tournament in Vietnam, organized by Shadow Entertainment Company in collaboration with the Ho Chi Minh City Boxing Federation.

This is the first time in the tournament’s history that three matches for the continental WBA belts have taken place.

The event also featured nine other exciting matches with competitors from Vietnam, Tajikistan, and Thailand.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

Vietnamese boxer Truong Dinh Hoang successfully defended his WBA Asia title at the LEAD: Born to Lead professional boxing tournament in Ho Chi Minh City on Saturday evening.

Hoang faced Baek Dae Hyun from South Korea in the match for the WBA Asia super middleweight belt.

Both Hoang and Baek showed confidence in their fighting techniques and tactics.

The two boxers exchanged lightning speed attacks with powerful hooks throughout the rounds.

Hoang began to have the edge over his opponent in the seventh round as he dished out accurate punches.

The Vietnamese boxer won the overall battle and successfully defended his WBA Asia super middleweight belt.

Nguyen Ngoc Hai reacts after defeating Campee Phayom at the LEAD: Born to Lead professional boxing tournament in Ho Chi Minh City, March 25, 2023. Photo: H.T. / Tuoi Tre

Nguyen Ngoc Hai reacts after defeating Campee Phayom at the LEAD: Born to Lead professional boxing tournament in Ho Chi Minh City, March 25, 2023. Photo: H.T. / Tuoi Tre

In the match for the WBA South Asia super-lightweight title, Nguyen Ngoc Hai from Vietnam faced Campee Phayom, a very strong contender from Thailand.

The turning point occurred in the second round when Campee lost his focus, allowing Hai to continuously dish out his attacks.

The Thai boxer fell down twice and tried to continue the fight, but the referee decided to stop the match and announced the technical knock-out victory for Hai.

At the tournament, Le Huu Toan, the reigning Asian mini-weight champion who ranks eight in the WBA world rankings, was challenged by Garen Diagan, former Filipino professional boxing champion in 2019.

Both Toan and Diagan started off the fight with powerful attacks.

Le Huu Toan (R) and Garen Diagan at the LEAD: Born to Lead professional boxing tournament in Ho Chi Minh City, March 25, 2023. Photo: H.T. / Tuoi Tre

Le Huu Toan (R) and Garen Diagan at the LEAD: Born to Lead professional boxing tournament in Ho Chi Minh City, March 25, 2023. Photo: H.T. / Tuoi Tre

The Vietnamese boxer dominated the following rounds with his combinations of horizontal hooks and uppercuts, while Diagan played defense and managed to have many successful counterattacks.

Toan had his chance to finish off his opponent, but Diagan was able to evade the attacks thanks to his impressive stamina.

After 12 rounds, Diagan defeated Toan by just one point and won the WBA Asia mini-weight belt.

LEAD: Born to Lead is the largest professional boxing tournament in Vietnam, organized by Shadow Entertainment Company in collaboration with the Ho Chi Minh City Boxing Federation.

This is the first time in the tournament’s history that three matches for the continental WBA belts have taken place.

The event also featured nine other exciting matches with competitors from Vietnam, Tajikistan, and Thailand.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

Source: https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/sports/20230326/vietnamese-defends-wba-asia-belt-at-professional-boxing-tournament/72270.html

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