The U.23 Vietnam strikers must be better than when they won the Southeast Asian championship, coach Kim wants the stadium to be full of spectators.

Vietnam U.23 strikers need to adjust their 'aim' in the 2026 AFC U.23 qualifiers, if they don't want to be replaced by coach Kim Sang-sik.

WHAT MR . KIM IS NOT SATISFIED WITH

The striker's ability to take advantage of opportunities is one of the rare points that coach Kim Sang-sik affirmed that he was "not satisfied" with after helping U.23 Vietnam win the 2025 Southeast Asian U.23 Championship.

Despite winning all 4 matches in 90 minutes on the way to the throne (an unprecedented achievement), 3 out of 4 victories of Mr. Kim and his team were only by the minimum margin. In the matches against weaker opponents such as U.23 Cambodia (group stage) and U.23 Philippines (semi-final), U.23 Vietnam only won 2-1, and had to... be nervous until the last minutes when the opponent rushed to put pressure. With their superior strength and overwhelming position, U.23 Vietnam could have increased the gap by 2 goals or more.

That's because coach Kim Sang-sik's strikers are not yet "in form". Except for Dinh Bac who shined with the title of best player of the tournament, the attackers like Quoc Viet, Van Thuan, Van Truong are not sharp in the penalty area, constantly missing opportunities, including tap-ins or close-range headers. 5 out of 8 goals scored by U.23 Vietnam in this tournament came from players in the back line (Ly Duc, Hieu Minh), or from Mr. Kim's "trump cards" (Xuan Bac, Cong Phuong). The experienced players are not yet in form, lacking decisiveness in the penalty area.

Dinh Bac is the hope of coach Kim Sang-sik

PHOTO: MINH TU

Although coach Kim Sang-sik still prioritizes recalling the U.23 Southeast Asian championship squad, it is mainly because the 1-month gap between the regional tournament and the continental qualifiers is not enough for the Korean coach to select and take risks with new players. After the U.23 Asian qualifiers, Mr. Kim will have nearly 3 months to clean up the squad for the 33rd SEA Games (taking place in December).

Therefore, the 3 matches against U.23 Bangladesh, U.23 Singapore and U.23 Yemen are opportunities for the strikers to hone their finishing skills and regain the coaching staff's trust.

SELF-RELIANCE

In this training session, coach Kim Sang-sik has the return of striker Thanh Nhan. However, this is not a personnel boost.

Thanh Nhan has scored 29 goals in 64 matches for PVF-CAND, but 28 of them were in the first division, which is much more "comfortable" than the V-League. In previous major tournaments with U.23 Vietnam, Thanh Nhan did not leave an impression. The striker from Tay Ninh is an aggressive player, good at attacking and defending, but lacks the ability to create breakthroughs and the quality of his shots is not high.

The U.23 Vietnam attack is a story of "new wine in old bottles". The personnel have not changed, the playing style is probably still the same because of the urgent preparation time (only 5 days before the opening match). So, if there is any difference, it will come from the individual efforts of each player. This is also a test that Mr. Kim gives his students. They must progress every day, improve their playing style through each training session to be able to nurture the dream of wearing the Vietnam national team jersey. The road to success has no footprints of lazy individuals.

In fact, the striker problem has been difficult to solve for Vietnamese football since… a decade ago. It is difficult to blame young strikers, when even experienced senior strikers have to struggle to find a place. V-League teams are increasingly rich in potential to buy good foreign players, of which, about 65% of foreign players arriving in V-League are strikers or attacking midfielders. Therefore, strikers often have very few opportunities to show their ability. Some have to change positions, moving to play behind or on the wing like Dinh Bac (CAHN Club) or to play as midfielder like Van Truong ( Hanoi Club). The rest sit on the bench.

In the Vietnam national team, coach Kim Sang-sik is also... helpless with the attack. He has to rely on a naturalized foreign player (Xuan Son) to win the AFF Cup 2024. Before Xuan Son arrived, the Vietnam national team only scored 12 goals in 8 official matches (an average of 1.5 goals/match). With the Brazilian striker, the number jumped to 12 goals in 4 matches, which is double, with 7 of those goals belonging to Xuan Son. But in the U.23 Vietnam team, there will be no Xuan Son for coach Kim Sang-sik. That's all the person in Mr. Kim's hands.

In the U.23 Southeast Asian tournament, Mr. Kim shared the scoring role between the midfield and the forwards. Set pieces were invested a lot of brainpower by the Korean coach, because this is the type of situation where any player on the field (except the goalkeeper) can participate in scoring. The attacking moves of U.23 Vietnam also opened up space for the second line to penetrate the penalty area more. Mr. Kim's strange options such as Xuan Bac and Cong Phuong may reappear, making the opponent unable to react.

But, no matter how they play, coach Kim Sang-sik still needs improved strikers. Because U.23 Vietnam not only plays to win, but also to shape the national team. Hopefully after 3 matches in the Asian qualifiers, the strikers will be sharper and more reliable.

U.23 Vietnam wants a large audience to come to the stadium

The Korean coach also expressed hope that the U.23 Vietnam team will be motivated in the upcoming matches at Viet Tri Stadium.

“At the 2024 Southeast Asian Championship in Viet Tri in December 2024, as well as the recent 2025 Southeast Asian Women's Championship in Viet Tri and Hai Phong , we witnessed stands lit up with the red color of the national flag. It was truly a wonderful image and a great source of motivation for the players. We really hope that the passionate and inspiring atmosphere will continue to be recreated at the 2026 AFC U-23 Championship qualifiers,” he said.

To serve fans, tickets for the matches are sold online exclusively on the OneU app, with three denominations of VND100,000, VND200,000 and VND300,000. The sale is divided into three phases: Phase 1: From 9:00 on August 25 to 23:59 on August 27 or until tickets are sold out, whichever comes first; audiences can simultaneously buy tickets to watch matches on September 3, September 6 and September 9. Phase 2: From 0:00 on August 28 to 23:59 on September 2 or until tickets are sold out, whichever comes first; audiences can simultaneously buy tickets to watch matches on September 6 and September 9. Phase 3: From 0:00 on September 3 to 23:59 on September 5 or until tickets are sold out, whichever comes first, audiences can buy tickets to watch matches on match day September 9.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/cac-chan-sut-u23-vn-phai-hay-hon-luc-vo-dich-dong-nam-a-thay-kim-muon-san-dong-khan-gia-185250828230350322.htm