Coach Kim Sang-sik's extremely difficult problem

In the journey to conquer the AFF Cup 2024 throne, the Vietnamese team, under the skillful leadership of coach Kim Sang-sik, has achieved balance in the midfield with the "steel" of Doan Ngoc Tan combined with the creativity and flexibility of Hoang Duc and Quang Hai. These are also the 3 midfielders that coach Kim Sang-sik used the most during the campaign. Now, this successful formula has lost its main ingredient when Ngoc Tan broke his fibula.

Can the youthful energy of Minh Khoa (9) fill the void left by Ngoc Tan? This is the question that coach Kim Sang-sik needs to answer soon.

PHOTO: NGOC LINH

Having not beaten the Vietnamese team in the past 10 years, under new head coach Peter Cklamovski, the Malaysian team has made progress and continuously naturalized foreign players to improve their strength. In particular, in the midfield, they own a series of quality players with outstanding personal skills, physique, and physical strength such as Hector Hevel (Dutch origin), Endrick (Brazil), Natxo Insa (Spain), Nooa Laine (Finland), Sergio Aguero (Argentina). In the group stage of the AFF Cup 2024, with only the duo Endrick and Aguero, the Malaysian team caused a lot of difficulties for the Thai team and only suffered a 0-1 defeat after the goalkeeper's mistake. At that time, the best central midfielder pair of the "War Elephants" Weerathep and Peeradol were almost completely outclassed, continuously failing in one-on-one battles with Endrick - Aguero.

That is why Vietnam really needs a player who is good at fighting, playing passionately and tenaciously like Ngoc Tan. Without him, Mr. Kim Sang-sik and his colleagues need to make appropriate calculations.

Coach Kim Sang-sik must overcome difficulties

After the AFF Cup 2024, the Vietnamese team played one match without Ngoc Tan, which was a 5-0 victory over the Lao team in the opening match of the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers at Go Dau Stadium. Mr. Kim continued to use the 3-4-3 tactical formation, arranging for Vo Hoang Minh Khoa to play alongside Hoang Duc. Both players operated as shuttle midfielders, and Minh Khoa also performed well. He played extremely confidently, leaving many marks in the attack as well as supporting the defense. This could also be the starting midfielder duo in the upcoming match against the Malaysian team. However, Minh Khoa is only a rookie of the Vietnamese team, and the opponent is only the Lao team. The midfielder born in 2000 has not yet proven his ability in important matches, against more difficult opponents.

The safer option for coach Kim Sang-sik is to use pure defensive midfielders with experience playing for the Vietnamese national team, such as Nguyen Thai Son (Thanh Hoa Club) or Nguyen Duc Chien (The Cong Viettel Club). But the worrying thing is that these two players have been given opportunities to play for the Vietnamese national team in previous training sessions but have not been highly rated by the Korean strategist. Mr. Kim also tested Thanh Chung in the defensive midfielder position in a friendly match against the Russian national team last year. But at that time, the Vietnamese national team switched to a 4-3-3 formation and this is unlikely to happen when the Golden Star Warriors are operating well in a 3-4-3 formation.

The match against Malaysia is not only vital in the race for a ticket to the 2027 Asian Cup, but also an opportunity for coach Kim Sang-sik to test the flexibility of the Vietnamese team. Solving the midfield problem at this time is not only to win 3 points right at the "fire pit" of Bukit Jalil, but also an important step on the path to building a more balanced and sustainable Vietnamese team in the future.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/bai-toan-cuc-kho-cua-hlv-kim-sang-sik-185250505214217468.htm