Football
Vietnamese forward Nguyễn Tiến Linh celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the 2022 Qatar World Cup Asian Qualifiers football match between Oman and Việt Nam, at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex stadium in the capital Muscat, on October 12. AFP/VNA Photo
HÀ NỘI – Việt Nam’s striker Nguyễn Tiến Linh has won AFC Asian Qualifiers – Road to Qatar’s Player of the Week after the thrilling October matches.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) considered these games among 2022 World Cup third qualification’s best so far. And Asia’s galaxy of stars delivered no shortage of quality over the past few weeks.
After 12 matches and 38 goals, AFC picked out 10 outstanding performers including big names from Iran, Republic of Korea, Syria and China, along with fresh-faced youngsters of Japan, Saudi Arabia and Việt Nam.
After several days of voting, Linh, who scored two goals out of Việt Nam's three goals in both two matches with 79 per cent of pass accuracy, came first with 73.38 per cent of the vote, leaving other nominees behind by a huge margin.
Forward Firas Al Buraikan of Saudi Arabia came second with 8.2 per cent and striker Sardar Azmoun of Iran was at third with 8.08 per cent.
Famous players Son Heung-min from South Korea and Wu Lei of China surprisingly received only 2.41 and 1.81 per cent, respectively.
Linh also secured NEOM’s Future Stars title of matchday three of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Asian qualifiers last week.
Linh has scored seven goals since the second qualifying round and still has opportunities to push his record in the six remaining matches.
In the coming games next month, Việt Nam will host Japan on November 11 and Saudi Arabia five days later at the Hà Nội’s Mỹ Đình Stadium. VNS
OVietnam