What the Vietnam U23 team is still lacking.

Three victories against the U23 teams of Laos, Cambodia, and the Philippines helped Vietnam's U23 team reach the final of the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 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 the Vietnam U23 team.

In the post-match press conference after the semi-final, coach Kim Sang-sik shared: "We won 2-1, created many opportunities but also missed many." Xuan Bac (Man of the Match) agreed: "The whole team needs to improve their finishing to close out the game sooner." Notably, this is not the first time members of the Vietnam U23 team have spoken about this issue. Coach Kim previously said that wasting opportunities makes things difficult for the Vietnam U23 team. Xuan Bac himself said the same thing during training.

On the Gelora Bung Karno stadium pitch on the afternoon of July 25th, the Vietnam U23 team unleashed 19 shots towards the Philippines U23 goal. However, only 3 of those shots were on target, a very low accuracy rate of 15%. The players may have been somewhat unlucky, with about 4 or 5 instances of the ball hitting the crossbar or post. However, poor finishing is a weakness that coach Kim Sang-sik's players must acknowledge. Dinh Bac, Van Thuan, and others all missed extremely good opportunities when the goal was almost wide open.

The Vietnam U23 midfielder admits the team is lacking a true goalscorer.

Quoc Viet (9) has not shown much when playing highest in the attack.

PHOTO: DONG NGUYEN KHANG

Currently, the Vietnam U23 team lacks a true center forward. Coach Kim Sang-sik brought four forwards to Indonesia: Dinh Bac, Quoc Viet, Ngoc My, and Van Thuan. All of them are primarily wing forwards, not the kind of strikers with a keen eye for goal-scoring, capable of scoring with just one or two touches. Therefore, the high-quality crosses from Van Khang, Phi Hoang, Anh Quan, etc., are rarely converted into goals because there isn't a player skilled enough to cut inside and finish.

The lack of a skilled striker has forced Coach Kim to constantly adjust his personnel and tactical approach. Dinh Bac is playing very well, scoring 2 goals and providing 2 assists, but he is performing more tasks than a typical center forward. The Hanoi Police FC striker has to drop deeper, creating connections between the lines instead of just "waiting in the shadows" for opportunities. In addition, the South Korean strategist frequently deploys central midfielders like Cong Phuong and Le Viktor as center forwards to optimize ball control and improve connectivity. Another striker with high expectations, Quoc Viet, has yet to show much when playing as the furthest forward. His short stature and limited one-on-one tackling ability prevent the player, dubbed the king of Vietnamese youth football, from fully utilizing his technical strengths.

The Vietnam U23 team scored 7 goals in the Southeast Asian U23 Championship, coming from all three lines: 2 goals from forwards, 2 goals from midfielders, and 3 goals from defenders. Having many players scoring is good, but Coach Kim also needs strikers who can shine to have a good chance of defending their title.

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

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