U22s beat Chonburi for BTV Cup

The national U22 football team defeated Thailand's Chonburi FC 2-1 in their second match in Group A of the Binh Duong Television (BTV) Cup in Go Dau Stadium in the southern province of Binh Duong yesterday, Nov 20.

Viet Nam played attack from the first minute of the match and Van Thang opened the scoring in the 57th minute.

The team continued to control the game and created several chances to score, but failed to convert these to any points.

Chonburi levelled the score in the last minutes of the match. However, Thang completed his double to make it 2-1 in the injury time to bring his team to the semi-finals.

The hosts Binh Duong are currently leading Group A with six points, while the U-22 national team and Chonburi rank second and third with three points and 0 point, respectively.

On Monday, Sai Gon Xuan Thanh (SG-XT) beat SHB Da Nang 1-0 in Group B to secure another place in the semi-finals.

Today, SG-XT will meet Japan's Avispa Fukuoka and Da Nang will play Gremio Barueri of Brazil.

Top teams gear up for cycling tourney

Fifteen teams will take part in the Nam Ky Khoi Nghia cycling tournament starting today.

Among them are strong squads including Domesco Pharmacy Dong Thap and Eximbank HCM City.

Riders will compete over three stages covering 494km. Today they will pedal the 171km first stage from HCM City to Can Tho City.

Start gun fired on shooting champs

The 48th National Shooting Championships will kick off in Ha Noi today with the participation of nearly 200 athletes.

They will shoot it out in both individual and team events including air pistol, free pistol and target rifle. The event, which will end on November 28, has been co-organised by the Viet Nam Shooting Federation and the National Sports Administration.

Footballers leave for AFF Suzuki Cup in Thailand

The national squad left HCM City for Bangkok for tough Group A competitions at the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup.

Vietnamese players, who are considered Thailand’s archrivals, took centre stage at Suvarnabhumi international airport upon their arrival, as they were surrounded by the local press.

Coach Phan Thanh Hung granted a short interview to local media agencies and led his players to Golden Tulip hotel where they are staying during Group A matches.

They had the first warm-up exercise in the afternoon at Muang Thong United Club’s stadium.  

They are scheduled to take on Myanmar in their opening game on November 24, the Philippines on November 27 and hosts Thailand on November 30.  

All Group A matches will take place at Rajamangala stadium in capital Bangkok.

At a send-off ceremony on November 19, Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) President Nguyen Trong Hy assigned the team to the task of entering the final match.

Coach Hung vowed to perform well to live up to spectators’ expectations.

VNN/VOV/VNS