Arsenal will take on the Vietnam national football team in a friendly on July 17 in Hanoi, under an agreement signed Thursday in the capital between the Gunners and two local sponsors of the game.

Arsenal marketing director Angus Kinnear, who wears a red tie, is seen during the signing of an agreement in Hanoi on Arsenal’s July visit to Vietnam in this May 9, 2013 photo.

Arsenal will become the first-ever English Premier League team to play a match in the Southeast Asian nation, with its top players set to be enlisted for the visit as part of its pre-season Asia Tour 2013.

“Arsenal has so many loyal supporters in Asia and we are delighted to be visiting Vietnam in July to play a match in Hanoi. Everyone at Arsenal is proud to be the first Premier League team to play a match in Vietnam and to be spending time in this wonderful country. Arsène Wenger, the players and all the staff have hugely enjoyed our tours to Asia in the past two years, and we are all looking forward to visiting Vietnam as part of our Asia Tour 2013,” chief executive Ivan Gazidis said on Arsenal’s official website.

Arsenal marketing director Angus Kinnear said during the signing ceremony that the club will bring its first team to Vietnam, which includes Theo Walcott, Lukas Podolski, Olivier Giroud, and Thomas Vermaelen.

The last three were seen in a video yesterday saying that they are eager for the trip and wish Vietnamese fans luck in getting a ticket for the game at the 40,000-seat My Dinh National Stadium.

Arsenal is scheduled to arrive in Hanoi on July 15 and have a training session, open freely to fans, one day later. Manager Arsène Wenger and his players will also engage in photo shoots and give autographs to their fans.

The team will stay at the Sheraton Hanoi Hotel during the visit.

Arsenal’s confirmation of the Vietnam trip follows negotiations between the English side and the Vietnam Football Federation in March, with sponsorships from local lender Eximbank and private property group HAGL.

The Gunners will also play the Indonesia national team on July 14 in Jakarta and then clash with Arsène Wenger’s former club, Nagoya Grampus, in Tokyo on July 22.

Their tour will end on July 26 when Arsenal faces Urawa Red Diamonds in Saitama Prefecture.

According to Tuoitre

As the world’s oldest football knockout competition, The FA Cup has played a storied role in the history of the beautiful game.

For over a century, the FA Cup Final has been an indelible part of English national consciousness. If you weren’t lucky enough to go to the game, the whole of FA Cup Final Saturday would build up to 3 p.m., where all eyes would be on Wembley.

Rival broadcasters ITV and the BBC would start their coverage earlier and earlier each year to pull in viewers. One season, coverage started at 8 a.m. on the Saturday morning and some of the hours were filled with a snooker tournament!

The final generated so much excitement that teams would always release a single during the build up: who could forget The Anfield Rap?!

The FA Cup Final has also produced some fantastic games over the years.

In 1977, Manchester Utd denied Liverpool a treble-winning season with a brilliant 2-1 victory.

In 1988, Wimbledon pulled off one of the biggest giant-killing feats of all time, also denying Liverpool a league and cup double near the height of their European pomp.

More recently in 1996, Eric Cantona’s ice-cool finish was enough to separate Manchester Utd and Liverpool in a highly memorable match. (This writer realizes that Liverpool were on the losing side in all three examples, but no bias is intended!)

With the 132nd edition of the FA Cup Final approaching, however, the showpiece match of English football does not appear to be in such good health.

As Wigan prepare to face Manchester City at Wembley, there is none of the usual fanfare. Suffice to say, neither team has put a celebratory song in the charts.

The Latics find themselves in yet another Premier League relegation battle, and some may even view the match as a distraction in their quest for top-flight survival.

Manchester City, meanwhile, will view the trophy as nothing more than a distant consolation prize after their feckless attempt at retaining their Premier League title.

In years gone by, there would be no other games on the weekend of the FA Cup final. This year we have a full Premier League program, along with championship playoffs. There’s even a Premier League match earlier on the same day.

Without a day dedicated to it, the final has certainly lost its sense of occasion.

Another bone of contention is that kickoff time has once again been shifted from its traditional 3 p.m. slot to 5:15 p.m. in order to maximise potential viewing figures. This move appears to have been made at the expense of the fans in attendance, who may struggle to get back home on public transportation after the match.

The struggle for TV viewing figures is indicative of the decline of the competition.

In decades gone by, every man and his dog would stop and watch the game. According to Sky, over 11 million people in the UK watched Roberto Di Matteo’s early goal for Chelsea against Middlesbrough. Five years later when Chelsea met Arsenal, there were only 6.3 million viewers. Only 5.6 million watched Portsmouth face Cardiff in 2008.

The calibre of competitors in the final may have something to do with the decline in interest. In the ’80s and ’90s, the final was dominated by Manchester Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal.

Watching Portsmouth play a championship side seems much less glamorous in comparison.

The trend of big clubs taking the competition less seriously has created less appetising finals. In this campaign, Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs, QPR, Aston Villa and Norwich were all eliminated by lower league competition. Unexpected defeats are all part of the excitement of the FA Cup, but too many of them certainly detract from the quality in the latter stages of the competition.

Perhaps the death knell for the competition was Manchester Utd’s unprecedented decision to pull out of the competition in 2000. Instead of defending the trophy they won the previous year, they chose to focus on competing in the Club World Cup (which they were eliminated from after failing to clear the group stage).

As Wigan enter Saturday’s match with their minds elsewhere and Manchester City assuming a win, it’s a sad fact that this game is seen as little else but a distraction for clubs of all sizes and statures.

The cup may even have lost its shine for lower league clubs, for whom it has always been an opportunity to punch above their weight.

Many Millwall supporters, for example, viewed their incredible journey to the semifinals as a distraction from a fairly dismal campaign in the Championship, from which they could have been relegated on the final day last weekend.

In an era of packed fixture lists and high financial rewards for finishing well in the league, the FA Cup seems to have become a relic of the past. Unless the prize is made greater (a Champions League playoff place perhaps?) the decline will only continue.

The FA Cup isn’t going anywhere, but sadly it’s magic disappeared long ago.

According to Bleacherreport.

Paris Saint-Germain manager Carlo Ancelotti has hailed retiring “legend and hero” Sir Alex Ferguson, insisting the outboundManchester United boss deserves all the praise he will get.

As exclusively revealed by Goal.com on Wednesday, Sir Alex hand-picked David Moyes as his successor, who was unveiled on Thursday, after a 26-year reign filled with titles and trophies. Ancelotti did the double over Sir Alex during Chelsea’s league and cup double in the 2009-10 season, and revealed they always got on well off the pitch.

“He’s a symbol, a legend and a hero for Manchester United,” the Italian wrote in a column for La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“But at the same time he’s humble, modest and still has the passion of a child in carrying out his work.

“I don’t remember the exact moment I met him for the first time, but I know we hit it off immediately. We were adversaries.

“At times I won and at times he won, but we were never enemies. At the end of each game we’d enjoy a good glass of wine and a laugh. This is the kind of football I like, and that Sir Alex likes as well.”

Ancelotti hinted that Sir Alex’s longevity has been down to a good relationship with the club’s owners and chiefs; something which has brought great success in an era of swift managerial changes.

“No director or president has ever questioned him,” he added. “This should be a lesson to those in the world of football, since far too often you find a lack of patience in this environment.

“Coaches need time to convey their thoughts, to make themselves understood and to give shape to their ideas of the game. Sir Alex had this time.”

Moyes clearly has big shoes to fill, but Ancelotti believes the new Red Devils manager simply needs to carry on where his predecessor left off.

“For us coaches, Ferguson’s adventure is a model to be followed,” he continued. “I think his greatest achievement was transmitting a sense of belonging to the players he guided.

“Being a part of Manchester United, being a Red Devil, is something that will never fade.

“For once a withdrawn and simple man like him will accept the plaudits. In the end, they’re justified. And most importantly, he deserves them.”

According to Yahoo