Malaysian newspaper unexpectedly praises coach Kim Sang-sik: Vietnam team must be careful with 'sweet words'

Malaysian football carefully studies coach Kim Sang-sik

Malaysia's New Straits Times wrote: "Malaysia head coach Peter Cklamovski is expected to face his toughest test yet when Malaysia takes on Vietnam. Coach Kim Sang-sik is very smart in applying strategy and tactics in competition. This was demonstrated by Kim Sang-sik when he led the ASEAN All Stars to a great victory over Manchester United recently."

Malaysian football is researching coach Kim Sang-sik

Photo: Ngoc Linh

The remarkable thing about the ASEAN All Stars team's victory over Manchester United is that the Southeast Asian stars only gathered hastily before the match, the whole team only had 1 practice session before entering the friendly match with the "Red Devils". The New Straits Times did not forget to mention this: "Although the ASEAN All Stars team only gathered 2 days before the match with Manchester United, and at the same time, coach Kim Sang-sik's team was missing many key players due to their busy participation in the World Cup qualifiers and Asian Cup qualifiers, the ASEAN All Stars team was still very well organized by coach Kim Sang-sik".

The next notable thing is that in the ASEAN All Stars team that played a friendly match against Manchester United, in addition to coach Kim Sang-sik, there were also 4 Vietnamese national team players, including central defender Do Duy Manh, left back Nguyen Van Vi, midfielder Nguyen Hai Long and Nguyen Hoang Duc. Malaysians are concerned that these players, along with coach Kim Sang-sik, will bring their high abilities to the match between Vietnam and Malaysia on June 10.

Still, the New Straits Times newspaper shared the opinion: "Facing the "Red Devils" squad with many stars, coach Kim Sang-sik helped his team create a top-notch defensive counter-attack performance, thereby winning at Bukit Jalil Stadium. That result created attention, and at the same time could make many people imagine that the Vietnamese team in the coming days will be tightly organized, playing cohesively in their away match in Malaysia in the Asian Cup qualifiers".

Vietnam team needs new plan

The fact that the Malaysian media highly appreciates Coach Kim Sang-sik shows that they respect the Korean coach and the professional ability of the Vietnamese team. However, from here we can see that Malaysian football is carefully studying Coach Kim Sang-sik and his students. The playing methods that the Vietnamese team can apply are being "scrutinized" bit by bit by the Malaysian side. The more compliments our opponents give us, the more they study us carefully.

Vietnam team needs new attack options

Photo: Nhu Dat

Therefore, the Vietnamese team needs to be cautious. Once our surprise against the opponent is reduced, Coach Kim Sang-sik's students will have more difficulty penetrating the Malaysian team's defense. We need to find new options in attack.

Coach Kim Sang-sik probably also considered this possibility. Mr. Kim called Cao Pendant Quang Vinh, Nguyen Duc Chien and Nguyen Cong Phuong to the national team in this training session. They are the faces that did not appear in the recent international matches of the Vietnamese team, so they will be the new options of Coach Kim Sang-sik, used to confront Malaysia.