VN top Southeast Asia football

Viet Nam's national football team retained its top spot in the Southeast Asian region and its 116th position in the world in rankings for May announced by the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA).

Viet Nam tops Southeast Asia with 242 points, followed by the Philippines which are No 140 in the world with 161 points and Thailand, No 143 with 156 points.

In Asia, Iran leads with its 37th position and 715 points, well ahead of Japan, No 47 with 613 points, and Uzbekistan, No 53 with 577 points.

Spain is still No 1 in the world, followed by Germany and Portugal. FIFA will announce next month's ranking on June 6.

Minh to slip in world ranking

Viet Nam's badminton ace Nguyen Tien Minh is set to miss the Badminton World Federation (BWF)'s first major international tournament, in India on May 18-25.

Under new rules set by organisers of Thomas Cup 2014, his absence could push Minh out of the world top 10 places because he will not be able to accumulate any point.

According to the BWF, since the beginning of this year, the HCM City native has competed in six international events, recording first round losses in three - Malaysia Open,

All England Open and Asian Badminton Championships; and not going beyond the second at the Singapore Open.

He reached the quarter-finals of the South Korea Open and won the Ciputra Ha Noi-Yonex Sunrise Viet Nam International Challenge.

Minh, world No 10, has been training at HCM City's Phu Tho Gymnasium in preparation for the National Mixed Team Badminton Tournament that begins today in the northern province of Bac Giang.

Japan topple Iran in shootout to lift Asian futsal champs title

Goalkeeper Sekiguchi Yushi became Japan's hero when he blocked three penalty shots to help his team beat Iran 3-0 during the penalty shootout in the final of the Asian Football Confederation Futsal Championships, which wrapped up on Saturday night.

While Nibuya Kazuhiro, Yoshikawa Tomoki and Akira Minamoto kicked perfect shots in the three first penalties, giving Iranian goalkeeper Alireza Sammi, who had had an easy job in front of the goal until the final, no chance.

Iran, which was the better of the two teams in terms of possessions and number of goal-scoring chances, performed poorly as the team failed to beat keeper Sekiguchi on all three attempts.

Sekiguchi used his hands and legs to turn away shots from Iran's captain, Mohammad Taheri, as well as players Ghodrat Bahadori and Asghar Hassanzadeh.

The match came down to the penalty shootout after the two teams drew 1-1, with goals from Inaba Kotaro for Japan and Farhad Tavakoli for Iran in the regular time, and was locked in a 2-2 draw in the extra time after goals from Hossein Tayebi and an a goal from Hadmid Amahdi. Sekiguchi did an excellent job throughout the match.

With this victory, Japan successfully defended the title they won two years ago in United Arab Emirates, and this third title has become more meaningful because this was the first time they defeated ten-time champions Iran, to whom they lost in the last five finals.

Iran's Tayebi was given the title of the top scorer, with 15 goals, while the award for the most valuable player of the tournament went to another Iranian player, Asghar Hassanzadeh. Japan received the fair play award.

"It was a great match, an even match with both teams having chances to win. I talked to my players, saying this game is like a movie between Portuguese Rocky Balboa and Russian Ivan Drago, both having great weapons, hard punchers and one is still knocked out," Japan's Spanish coach, Miguel Rodrigo, said during the post-match press conference.

"We have to be Rocky Balboa today, stay strong on our feet and stand against the hard punches from Drago until the moment he has stumbled, and still find out how we can defeat this man," the Spaniard said.

Goalkeeper Sekiguchi had his best performance of the tournament tonight and many fans, who spoke non-stop about Japan's incredible resilience and about the goalkeeper's influence in his team's victory over Iran.

"He was superb in the match and he gave everything because he is only 20 years old. He is Japan's futsal hope and future, in terms of goalkeeping," Rodrigo said, after being asked about his goalkeeper's performance.

"Sekiguchi has experience in playing futsal in the Grand Prix competition in Brazil and the Asian Indoor Games in South Korea. So I'm not too surprised at his performance tonight," said Rodrigo, who now has his first Asian title with Japan.

He also picked out Viet Nam, Kuwait and China as potential teams that will be able to compete against Japan and Iran in the future.

"Viet Nam is working hard and possesses a lot of young players. China is also growing and has foreign players in their professional league. Of course, Kuwait and Thailand are giving their young players the opportunity to grow," Rodrigo said.

Previously, in the third place play-off, Rakhmatov Dilshod and Abdumavlyanov Farkhod each scored one goal to help Uzbekistan overcome Kuwait 2-1. Hamad Alawadhi scored the only goal for Kuwait.

"Kuwait played very well today and I respect this team a lot. They showed us they are one of the best teams in Asia, causing a lot of difficulties for us," Uzbekistan's coach, Ahmedov Bahodir, said during the post-match press conference.

"I would also like to thank all my players. I am happy because this is the first time I've won a medal in futsal," he added.

Da Nang host swimming contest

The central city will host the National Junior Swimming and Finswimming Championship at its Tuyen Son Sport Centre from May 14-20, the Viet Nam Aquatic Sports Association announced yesterday.

The annual championship will see athletes from 24 teams competing for 192 medals sets in swimming and finswimming.

The finswimming and swimming events will be held respectively from May 14-16 and May 17-20.

HCM City, Ha Noi and Da Nang are leading medal contenders at the championship.

South Korea beat Viet Nam in friendly match

The South Korean women's national football team beat the Vietnamese national team 5-0 in a friendly match in South Korea yesterday.

Asserting their dominance based on strength and tactics, World No 18 South Korea scored goals in the fifth, 15th, 35th, 77th and 86th minutes of the match.

Despite losing, the Chinese coach of the hosts Chen Yun Fat said that this match was a chance for Viet Nam, World No 28, to hone their skills before competing in the final round of the upcoming Asian Cup 2014.

During the training session in South Korea, the visitors lost to Hyundai Steel 2-1 on May 4.

As planned, the team returned home today in preparation for the Asian event, which will kick off on May 14.

Asian championships Viet Nam's best futsal performance on record

Although stopped at the quarter-final round of the AFC Futsal Championship, Viet Nam's performance was said to be its best ever.

Their playing was said to have been better than expected, as Viet Nam showed remarkable progress and completed their target of reaching the top eight.

Former national player Truong Quoc Tuan noted, "Viet Nam had more attacks than in the past. Players worked hard and ran a lot. But the main difference was that they were confident in managing the ball and breaking in to score."

Tuan, who is now coach of the national women's futsal team, was surprised but happy to make note of the Vietnamese players' strong physiques, which were their weak point in the past. They now will play with a busy schedule of four matches in eight days.

"It would be the best tournament for the team, although they still need time to work together," Tuan said.

Tran Anh Tu, head of VFF's Futsal Department, also confirmed that Viet Nam's futsal had reached new height.

"It was not luck for us. It is our new level, under coach Bruno Formoso, who has only worked with us for about one month," said Tu, who is also a member of AFC's Futsal and Beach Soccer Committee.

"In the future, we have to work on a plan which include youth training programmes, for those who will be our next generation. Coming up will be more leagues that will provide regular competition for players to practise and raise their skills, as well as learn from their experience," Tu said.

Their next tournament will be the ASEAN Futsal Championship in Malaysia in September.

VNN/VNS/VOV/ND