Fantasy football midfielders who play as strikers

The Catalans created little in one of their worst first-half displays at the Camp Nou this season but found a breakthrough early in the second when Martin Braithwaite released Messi with a classy backheel and the Argentine did the rest.

* Bernardo Silva scored once and set up another as Manchester City eased to a 2-0 victory over Borussia Moenchengladbach in their Champions League last-16 first leg on Wednesday (Feb 25), extending their winning run to 19 games in all competitions.

* Ferland Mendy grabbed a late winner to earn lacklustre Real Madrid a 1-0 win over 10-man Atalanta in Wednesday’s Champions League last-16 first leg.

* Dele Alli and Gareth Bale staked their claims for places in Tottenham Hotspur’s first team with superbly-taken goals in a 4-0 victory over Austrian club Wolfsberg in the Europa League last 32 second leg on Wednesday.

* Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has said he is still in contact with former charge Erling Braut Haaland and has not ruled out a future move for the Borussia Dortmund star. The 20-year-old striker has established himself as one of the hottest prospects in world football during goal-laden stints with Austrian side Salzburg and Dortmund.

* World number one Ash Barty has withdrawn from next week’s Qatar Open in Doha due to a left leg injury, organisers of the WTA 500 tournament said on Wednesday. Barty’s decision comes after being knocked out of the Adelaide International on Wednesday, losing 6-3 6-4 to American Danielle Collins in the second round.

* American Grant Holloway broke the world indoor 60m hurdles record that had endured since 1994 on Wednesday, finishing in 7.29 seconds to shave 0.01 seconds off the previous mark set by Briton Colin Jackson. Holloway, the 110m hurdles world champion, won the race at the Villa de Madrid by 0.22 seconds, extending his victory streak in indoor sprint hurdles to 54 races.

* Tiger Woods could return to competitive golf within a year, top orthopedic surgeons said on Wednesday, but the road back from serious leg injuries sustained in a car crash will be a long and grueling one.

* Celtic manager Neil Lennon has stepped down following a dismal campaign that has left the Scottish Premiership club 18 points behind leaders Rangers, the club said on Wednesday.

HAMMER TIME: David Moyes may struggle to keep young star Declan Rice at West Ham in the coming seasons. AFP Photo

Paul Kennedy

I’ve always had a soft spot for West Ham United. They are probably the London team I hate the least.

Aside from a couple of dodgy movies in the 1990s glamourising football hooliganism that I wasn’t keen on, (who can forget Frodo from Lord of the Rings portraying a soccer yob) I do actually like watching them play.

Through the years they have always had a good youth system (Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole, and more recently, Declan Rice) but because they have never been considered Premier League big boys, these players did, or will, move on.

I like Liverpudlian Kevin Nolan, who captained West Ham in days gone by and is now assistant manager, and I was impressed after they narrowly lost to Liverpool in the 2006 FA Cup final when the majority of their supporters hung around and applauded Liverpool’s lap of honour, a fact noted and praised by Steven Gerrard in his autobiography.

But another reason I am a fan of the Irons is that really they are no threat to my team.

That is until this season.

Although Liverpool have beaten them home and away already in this campaign, they find themselves currently five points behind West Ham who are quite simply flying right now.

I’ve wracked my brain this week wondering why they have made the sudden turnaround from also-rans to top four contenders and I thought maybe it is because of the lack of supporters in the stadium.

West Ham, against the wishes of the majority of their faithful fans, moved from Upton Park to the Olympic Stadium five years ago.

Results didn’t go to plan and many complained about the venue, making their feelings known during matches, particularly when they lost.

I raised my hypothesis with a Hammer buddy who shot my theory down instantly.

He claims, and to be honest, he knows a damn sight more about West Ham than I do, that much more credit must be given to the players and even more to manager David Moyes.

It wasn’t that long ago Moyes was personally picked to replace Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, and some would argue he wasn’t given enough time at Old Trafford.

But according to the West Ham fan I spoke to, Moyes has instilled a far better training regime and gotten rid of the squad’s bad apples who were not pulling their weight.

The talents of Declan Rice are plain to see, and they will do well to keep hold of him over the next few seasons, but right now things are certainly going well for Moyes and West Ham.

Realistically speaking, I don’t think they will finish this season in a Champion’s League position, and I believe a Europa League spot is far more realistic.

I know I will be laughed at considering Liverpool’s prolonged slump, but I do feel the Reds will be above West Ham by the end of the season, although not by much.

What the Hammers’ owners need to do is look at the success they have right now, realise that they are lucky to have David Moyes and his managerial team at the helm and invest in the future.

With the right signings in the summer, good, solid players rather than so-called superstars, then this season’s success so far will not just be written off as a flash in the pan.

It’s a good time to be a West Ham fan, and I’ve a feeling long will that continue.  VNS

Nguyen Thi Bich Van

In early 2021, on its Facebook page, IBM Vietnam for the first time announced the appointment of a female Vietnamese CEO to replace a foreign CEO who had been working for IBM for 25 years.

The woman, Pham Thu Diep, is the first IBM’s ‘female general’ in the company’s 25 years of operation in the Vietnamese market.

It is now more common to see women managing large corporations in Vietnam such as Mai Kieu Lien, CEO of Vinamilk; Nguyen Thi Nga, president of BRG; Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, CEO of Vietjet; and Le Thi Thu Thuy of VinFast are some of the names.

However, becoming a CEO of a foreign invested technology firm is still rare in Vietnam.

Before taking the office as CEO of a technology firm, Diep was a high ranking manager with 23 years of experience in the IT field. Starting her career at TRG International, she later held posts at Exact, which provides ERP service and cloud software to clients specializing in accountancy.

Diep joined IBM in early 2011 and has had many leadership positions since then.

In 2017, a Vietnamese woman became the highest ranking leader of Unilever Vietnam, a foreign invested enterprise specializing in personal and family care products and food. The first Vietnamese female president of the leading company in the FMCG sector is Nguyen Thi Bich Van, who has had a strong attachment to the company for the last 24 years.

Le Diep Kieu Trang is another well known name among businesswomen. She worked as CEO of Facebook and Go-Viet before choosing a new way to go.

The ‘golden girl’ with respectable achievements during school has had leadership positions at the world’s largest groups in Vietnam.

The brilliant achievements gained by VietJet Air, the air carrier with the largest market share, in the last decade bear the hallmark of CEO Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao. Last year Vietjet was one of only a few air carriers in the world which did not lay off workers and also made a profit, despite the Covid-19 crisis.

After a period of holding the post of CEO at Fossil Vietnam, Trang chose Facebook to use her experience to connect to the business community, both in Vietnam and overseas.

Global vision

Van said in Forbes Vietnam that being a leader in a multinational environment requires a high level of professionalism. She needs to understand multinationals’ vision and define their role in the multinationals’ business.

The working environment at multinationals is very diverse, so there is high requirement on the ability to work, communicate, and think in that environment. To encourage people to raise good ideas, leaders not only need to understand national cultures, but also understand the abilities of each worker so as to combine their talents and lead the staff to the finish point.

According to Van, this is not an easy work, because the more talented people there are, the more difficult it is for the team to reach a common purpose. In modern times, CEOs need to not ‘issue orders from the top down’, but ‘serve others’. They need to set orientation and then give power to workers to implement the strategies.

Some important positions at foreign corporations were and are held by Vietnamese women. These include Nguyen Phuong Anh, who worked as Google Asia Pacific marketing director in charge of the Vietnamese market; and Nguyen Mai Phuong, who became the youngest branding director of Unilever at the age of 24.

Vietnamese businesswomen also play an important role in the development of Vietnamese enterprises.

The brilliant achievements gained by VietJet Air, the air carrier with the largest market share, in the last decade bear the hallmark of CEO Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao. Last year Vietjet was one of only a few air carriers in the world which did not lay off workers and also made a profit, despite the Covid-19 crisis.

Thao has been included in Bloomberg’s list of 50 global influential leaders for many years. Thao is also chair of the board of directors and founding shareholder of Sovico Holdings, and deputy chair of HDBank.

In the manufacturing sector, Le Thu Thuy, president of VinFast, is a respectable name. Just within a short time, VinFast introduced its first two products – LUX A2.0 sedan series and LUX SA2.0 SUV at Paris Motor Show 2018. Most recently, its first three SUV smart electric cars were launched.

The great strides made by VinFast has created a stronger belief in the future of Vietnam’s automobile industry. This is the first time in history that a Vietnamese company can manufacture luxury cars with good design and high quality, to be sold in Vietnam and in the world market as well.

V. Ha

Children and their parents play at Ly Thai To Square in Hoan Kiem Lake. — VNA/VNS Photo Hoang Hieu

According to the organisers, the campaign aims to create a joyful and exciting atmosphere for citizens on national holidays and major anniversaries of the nation, in addition to aiding the political and decorative tasks of the city.

It is also set to contribute to preserving and promoting the national cultural identity and typical values of Hanoi as a thousand-year-old capital, creative city and city for peace, as well as meet the increasing demands of cultural enjoyment of citizens.

Themed ‘Hanoi — Creative City’ and ‘Hanoi Congratulates the Party and Celebrates a New Spring’, designs must be of high aesthetic, suitable to surrounding landscape, lightning systems and architecture. They are also expected to contain elements of creativity and follow modern decoration trends.

Entries with the use of new technologies, appropriate materials, elegant colours and safety insurance will be prioritised.

The winning designs will be used for decoration of major streets in Hanoi’s downtown such as Trang Tien, Trang Thi, Ba Trieu, Hai Ba Trung, Ly Thuong Kiet and Tran Hung Dao, among others, at the celebration of the new year of 2022.

The contest is open for contestants of any nationality who can submit unlimited designing plans for various places, provided that they comply with copyright protection law.

Trang Tien Street is among those in Hanoi to be decorated with designs submitted to the city decoration and lighting campaign 2021. — Photo kinhtedothi.vn

The works qualified for the competition must be those which have not been submitted to other contests or introduced to the public in any form.

One special prize, one first prize, two-second prizes, third prizes and five consolation prizes will be given to the best entries.

The submitted designs for street decoration and lighting must be drawn on the A4-sized paper, and then sent to Hanoi’s Department of Culture and Sports at 47 Hang Dau Street, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi, from August 24 to 31. VNS