What is missing from U.23 Vietnam

3 victories against U.23 Laos, Cambodia and Philippines helped U.23 Vietnam reach the final of the 2025 Southeast Asian U.23 Championship, but also exposed the problem that we are lacking a true center forward.

Coach Kim Sang-sik talks about the strengths and weaknesses of U.23 Vietnam

In the press conference after the semi-final, coach Kim Sang-sik shared: "We won 2-1, created many opportunities but also missed many." Xuan Bac (the best player of the match) also agreed: "The whole team needs to improve the finishing to end the match sooner." Notably, this is not the first time members of U.23 Vietnam have talked about this issue. Mr. Kim once said that wasting opportunities makes things difficult for U.23 Vietnam. Xuan Bac himself also said the same thing during the training session.

At Gelora Bung Karno Stadium on the afternoon of July 25, U.23 Vietnam launched 19 shots towards the U.23 Philippines goal. However, we only had 3 shots on target, the accuracy rate of 15% is too low. The players may have been a bit unlucky when there were about 4 or 5 situations where the ball hit the crossbar and the post. However, poor finishing is a shortcoming that coach Kim Sang-sik's students must admit. Dinh Bac, Van Thuan... all missed extremely delicious opportunities, when the goal was almost wide open.

U.23 Vietnam midfielder admits the team is lacking a real 'goal scorer'

Quoc Viet (9) has not been able to show much when playing highest on the attack line.

PHOTO: DONG NGUYEN KHANG

At this time, U.23 Vietnam does not have a true striker. Coach Kim Sang-sik brought to Indonesia 4 strikers including Dinh Bac, Quoc Viet, Ngoc My, Van Thuan. All of them have the ability to play on the wing, not the type of striker with the ability to smell the goal sensitively, only need to handle 1-2 beats to be able to score. Therefore, the very high-quality crosses from Van Khang, Phi Hoang, Anh Quan... are rarely converted into goals because there is no one in the middle who is good at cutting and finishing.

The lack of a striker who is good at scoring goals also makes Mr. Kim have to constantly adjust his personnel as well as the way he operates tactics. Dinh Bac is playing very well, scoring 2 goals, 2 assists but he is doing more tasks than a normal striker. The striker of the Hanoi Police Club has to retreat deep, creating connections between the lines and cannot just "hang a net" and wait for opportunities. In addition, the Korean strategist also often lets central midfielders like Cong Phuong and Le Viktor play as strikers to optimize ball control and increase connectivity. Another striker with high expectations, Quoc Viet, has not shown much when playing highest up the attack line. His short stature and limited ability to compete one-on-one makes it difficult for the player known as the king of Vietnamese youth football to promote his technical strengths.

U.23 Vietnam scored 7 goals in the U.23 Southeast Asian Championship, coming from all 3 lines: 2 goals from the strikers, 2 goals from the midfielders and 3 goals from the defenders. Having many players scoring is a good thing, but Mr. Kim also needs strikers who know how to shine to have a chance to defend the title.

Watch the full U.23 Southeast Asian Football Championship Mandiri Cup™ 2025 live onFPT Play, visit http://fptplay.vn

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/dieu-con-thieu-cua-u23-viet-nam-18525072521171791.htm