Wins kentucky derby

Major streets of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and virtually any localities across Vietnam have once again been a sea of red on Saturday night as the national football team won the Asean Football Federation Championship for the first time since 2008.

The Golden Stars beat Malaysia 1-0 in the second leg of the final on their home turf in Hanoi with a brilliant volley by Nguyen Anh Duc, securing a 3-2 aggregate triumph to win the regional title, exactly ten years after their first trophy in 2008.

As Vietnam is known for celebrating any victories of their beloved football team, Saturday’s feat has unsurprisingly sparked nationwide celebrations.

An audio-visual feast, with the red color seen everywhere and the space filled with the bizarre sound sound of vuvuzela-like horns, was simultaneously held across the country shortly after the last whistle of the Vietnam – Malaysia clash at the 40,000-seat My Dinh National Stadium was blown at round 9:30 pm.

This is what known as di bao , literally translated as “going like a storm,” in Vietnamese.

The celebration involves people taking to the street, usually on their motorbikes, with the national flags and anything that can ‘make some noise,’ literally, to glorify the triumphs of the country’s national football team.

On Saturday night, people, with national flags in their hands and flag- or heart-themed stickers glued on their cheeks and foreheads, flooded main streets in big cities and provinces countrywide, shouting in triumph.

Some blew their horns while others enthusiastically beat their ‘drums,’ which were in fact pots and pans.

Below are photos of the celebrations taken by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper:

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HAGL’s young Vietnamese stars are in fine form and enjoying their football. Photo thethaovanhoa.vn

Peter Cowan

For a long time, the huge support Hoàng Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) have here in Việt Nam baffled me.

Since I arrived in the country, they haven’t finished any higher than seventh place in the V.League 1 and play in the Central Highlands city of Pleiku, not exactly one of the country’s biggest or most bustling cities.

Sure, I understood many of the national team’s top youngsters have been moulded at the club, but still, this is the country’s second-best supported team? A team made up of prodigious talents who always seem to fall short of their potential? Playing for a team literally named after a large corporation?

This season though, it’s finally starting to make sense to me.

Those talents are finally living up to the hype and HAGL sit atop the V.League 1 table, three points clear of second-placed Viettel after defeating Hà Nội FC 1-0 in Pleiku on Sunday.

Yes, Hà Nội are languishing in eighth place and barring a miracle are out of the title race, but the match was still seen as an important yardstick for HAGL due to the capital side’s dominance of domestic football in recent years.

Tickets were in such hot demand that some fans reportedly queued up from Saturday night just to get theirs, while some tickets reportedly sold on the black market for VNĐ1.5 million, a huge markup and frankly something the league shouldn’t let happen, but still an indicator of how big this game was.

As is so often the way with much-hyped matches, the actual product on the pitch failed to live up to expectations to a degree and we weren’t treated to the free-scoring spectacle many had hoped for.

That being said though, HAGL’s ability to grind out the goal to nil victory shows how this season they can actually go all the way.

Part of why HAGL are so loved is the brand of football they have played over the years or at least the brand they have espoused.

While they have never tried to walk it in like Arsenal circa mid 2000s, the Pleiku based side have been renowned for being sticklers for style and aesthetics over everything, sometimes to the cost of winning.

At the start of the 2020 season, South Korean coach Lee Tae-hoon proclaimed that his HAGL team would put aside this focus on beauty in favour of playing “like warriors” and with a “stronger spirit”.

Things didn’t quite work out for Lee, who was shown the door last November, but his replacement has shown that you don’t have to follow the Sam Allardyce school of management to produce a winning team.

Kiatisuk ‘Zico’ Senamuang has moulded essentially the same group of players Lee and several of his predecessors struggled to do anything with into a cohesive, exciting and, most importantly, winning team.

HAGL may still ship more goals than they would like, but under Senamuang they can outscore anyone and have just enough nous to hold onto leads.

Best of all, the attacking success is being driven by Vietnamese players Nguyễn Công Phượng, Nguyễn Văn Toàn, Vũ Văn Thanh and Lương Xuân Trường, who scored an absolute peach of a winner on Sunday.

While Brazilian forward Washington Brandao has had a great season so far for HAGL, it’s those Vietnamese stars who have been at the heart of the team’s attacking verve, with Toàn, in particular, showing huge strides in his development from a mere speed merchant to a canny forward.

While personally, I’ll never be able to cheer too loudly for a team named after a company, this season has finally shown me what all the fuss about HAGL is. Now they just have to go on and win the whole thing. VNS

HCM City FC’s coach Alexandre Polking criticised Nam Định after the 3-2 loss. Photo thanhnien.vn

NAM ĐỊNH — HCM City FC coach Alexandre Polking slammed Nam Định for time-wasting at the end of his side’s 3-2 defeat on Sunday, but Nam Định coach Nguyễn Văn Sỹ insisted what his side did was within the limits of fair play.

At Thiên Trường stadium in Nam Định, the home team won thanks to two goals by Ossou Konan and one from Rodrigo Dias while Lâm Ti Phông’s brace wasn’t enough for HCM City to take anything.

The turning point came after a beautiful free-kick from Rodrigo Dias in the 67th minute to make the score 3-2. Tempers flared in the dying minutes and Phan Văn Hiếu of Nam Định and City star Lee Nguyễn received red cards in extra time.

After the match, Polking said he wasn’t happy to see the home team wasting time by committing fouls to preserve their lead.

“What I saw here today in the last 12 minutes is not good for the league at all. It’s a shame for me to see that. I would never do that for a team to win a game. Never,” he said, referring to time-wasting from Nam Định.

Polking congratulated Nam Định’s players and said the referee did the right thing in adding on a lot of extra time but lambasted the home team’s efforts to slow the game by throwing the ball away when it went out of play and players staying down.

“It’s not good for the league he said,” adding, “this is (from) 20 years ago.”

Nam Định’s coach Nguyễn Văn Sỹ disagreed with Polking’s statement and said his opponents would have done the same thing if roles were reversed.

“HCM City would have done that too if they had been in the same situation,” Sỹ said.

“The dedication of the players in this match was amazing. I hope they keep their determination in the next matches. This is a worthy result for the club and the fans of Nam Định.

“They said my team bought time, but they also have to look in the mirror. HCM City also injured my players. What we did to preserve the score is completely within the limits of football,” said the 49-year-old.

Nam Định currently sit sixth in the table with 15 points after 10 games, while HCM City are in 12th place with only 10 points – only one point away from bottom.

In the next match, Nam Định will meet Than Quảng Ninh, while HCM City will face defending champions Viettel. VNS

Touching moment: Petra Kvitova and her compatriot Karolina Muchova react after the final. (AFP/Michal Cizek)

The three-day all-Czech event, pitting eight women and eight men, which ended on Thursday, was played under tight health protocols to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.

“The gloves, face masks, the fact nobody handed us the towels, no handshakes, that was definitely bizarre,” said two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova after winning the women’s part of the event.

“And playing without people, the atmosphere was not exactly what we are used to,” added the 30-year-old world number 12, who beat Karolina Muchova 6-3, 6-3 in the final disrupted by rain.

The showers even made organisers contemplate moving the final to a nearby hall comprising two courts right next to each other – one ready for the match the other serving as the press centre.

The event was held behind closed doors, with a handful of spectators demoted to spots behind the fence where they struggled to observe the social distancing rules.

On the court, the line judges had to wear face masks, just like the ball boys and girls who also had gloves on to prevent contamination.

Throughout the tournament, the players wore face masks all the way to the court.

“I guess this was the most bizarre thing, wearing the masks. And that you can’t shake hands with the opponent and the umpire,” said Barbora Strycova, the world number two for doubles, who crashed out in the semi-final.

‘WONDERFUL TOURNAMENT’

Instead of handshakes, the players merely bumped their racquets at the net.

“We both laughed about it. It was my first ‘racquet shake’ and it was weird,” Muchova said after her first-round match.

“The strangest thing was having no stands with people around us, nobody cheered, we only waved at the referees,” added the world number 26.

Throughout the tournament, and particularly on the windy, cloudy Thursday of the final, players struggled with poplar fluff from a nearby park on Prague’s northern outskirts.

“When it gets in your eyelashes, in your eye or – heaven forbid – in your mouth, it’s unpleasant,” said Kvitova.

But despite the hardships, the players in unison praised the opportunity after the long break from the sport.

“Given the circumstances and the pandemic, it was a wonderful tournament,” beamed Kvitova.

“It’s great that something’s happening again. I hope this will mark the beginning of a return to normal for the tennis world.”

“It was great to be back,” said Muchova.

“I played against players whom I could meet in the semi-finals of a Grand Slam. We played great games.”

And Michael Vrbensky, the 20-year-old, 405th-ranked winner of the men’s event who saw off top seed Jiri Vesely in the first round, was euphoric.

“It did feel like a tournament. There were more people here than at the Challengers I play,” he said.

“And it was the first time in my life I played before cameras. That’s another great experience for me.”

AFP

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic returns the ball to Colombia’s Daniel Elahi Galan during their men’s singles third round tennis match on Day 7 of The Roland Garros 2020 French Open tennis tournament in Paris on October 3, 2020.(Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP)

Djokovic, the 2016 champion, is through to the Roland Garros last 16 for a record-equalling 11th successive year and is chasing an 18th Grand Slam title.

The world number one has dropped just 15 games in three rounds, improving his record this season to 34 wins against one loss ahead of a meeting with 15th seed Karen Khachanov.

The Russian claimed his biggest win to date against Djokovic in the French capital, upsetting the Serb in the final of the 2018 Paris Masters.

“Maybe mentally you know that you beat him in this particular match, for sure it gives you the confidence inside to know that you’ve done it already once at least,” said Khachanov.

“That’s the only thing that might help on a mental preparation to be ready for whatever happens,” he added.

“The deeper you go the tougher opponents you face. This is what it’s all about.”

Only Djokovic has won more titles in 2020 than Andrey Rublev, the Russian 13th seed who plays world number 63 Marton Fucsovics, the first Hungarian man in the second week since Balazs Taroczy in 1984.

Rublev won on clay in Hamburg last week to add to victories at Doha and Adelaide at the start of the campaign.

Greek fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas takes on Grigor Dimitrov while German qualifier Daniel Altmaier looks to extend his shock run against US Open semi-finalist Pablo Carreno Busta.

World number 186 Altmaier is just the fourth man in 20 years to reach the round of 16 on his Grand Slam debut.

– Kenin dreaming big –

Only four seeds remain in the women’s draw, with No. 4 Kenin the second highest left behind third seed Elina Svitolina following the exit of title favourite Simona Halep.

Australian Open champion Kenin, who defeated Serena Williams in the fourth round last year, will face unseeded French player Fiona Ferro.

“I feel like I’m playing well at the Slams,” said Kenin, who has made the last 16 or better at the three majors this season.

“It’s not easy, everyone is playing their best tennis at the Grand Slams. But I definitely feel like I should get deep in a tournament.”

Two-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova, seeded seven, is in the same half as Kenin and takes on Zhang Shuai, the first Chinese woman to reach the last 16 since former champion Li Na in 2012.

Ons Jabeur is targeting a second quarter-final in three Slams after becoming the first Arab woman to make the fourth round here.

The Tunisian 30th seed next faces 57th-ranked American Danielle Collins, who stunned 2016 champion and 11th seed Garbine Muguruza in three sets.

Spain’s Paula Badosa, the 2015 junior champion, plays Laura Siegemund of Germany in a tie between two players through to the last 16 at a Slam for the first time.

AFP

In Hanoi, Easter lilies are mostly grown in flower villages in Nhat Tan, Tay Tuu, Dong Anh and Dan Phuong.

From 2AM, the flowers are transported from the gardens to wholesale markets across the capital city.

The flowers are wrapped in bunches, following the footprints of flower street vendors across the city.

Thuy, a flower street vendor, said that she picked up Easter lilies at Nhat Tan Market at around 3 AM.

The flowers can be used as decorations at home or as offerings at pagodas.

A bunch of Easter lilies costs around VND30,000.

Blooming Easter lilies kept in buckets; the flowers are used for photoshoot services in front of Cua Bac Church.

A young woman poses with Easter lilies.

Nhan Dan