The winding road of Mr. Kim Sang-sik

Coach Kim Sang-sik has a very good hand with Vietnamese football when he won the AFF Cup 2024 championship and the U.23 Southeast Asia championship 2025. However, his upcoming mission is full of thorns when he and his students fight in 3 arenas including SEA Games 33, U.23 Asian Finals and the second leg of the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers.

Coach Kim Sang-sik and the IMMENSE PRESSURE FROM THE PAST

Kim Sang-sik's compatriot, coach Park Hang-seo, won two gold medals at the 30th and 31st SEA Games, finished as runner-up in the 2018 U.23 Asian Championship, and reached the quarterfinals of the 2019 Asian Cup. These are also the three important competitions that coach Kim Sang-sik had to face.

At the 33rd SEA Games in December 2025, host nation Thailand is highly determined to win all four gold medals in football, focusing particularly on the men's gold medal, as the Thais have failed to win any gold medals in three consecutive SEA Games. Recently, after securing a place in the U23 Asian Championship finals, coach Thawatchai affirmed that his team (actually the U22 team) is gradually improving and will reach peak form just in time for the SEA Games on home soil.

The Vietnamese national team (left) will face Malaysia again in March 2026 as they pursue a ticket to the 2027 Asian Cup finals.

PHOTO: NGOC LINH

Despite being eliminated in the group stage of the U23 Asian Championship, the Indonesian U23 team remains the reigning SEA Games champion. With nearly three months remaining until the 33rd SEA Games, there's ample time for billionaire Erick Thohir (President of the Indonesian Football Federation) to invest in and upgrade the team. Besides key players like goalkeeper Muhammad Ardiansyah and striker Jens Craven, the Indonesian U23 team could add other quality players such as center-back Justin Hubner, midfielders Ivar Jenner and Marselino Ferdinand to strengthen their squad.

Clearly, Thailand and Indonesia remain formidable challenges for the Vietnam U23 team on their path to achieving their SEA Games 33 goal. Coach Kim Sang-sik will certainly not "freeze" the current squad, but will have to strengthen it with new players when the V-League resumes.

At the AFC U-23 Asian Championship in Saudi Arabia in January 2026, the Vietnamese U-23 team faces a huge challenge at the continental level. Having been runners-up in 2018 and reaching the quarter-finals several times in this tournament, the pressure weighs heavily on the current players and coach Kim Sang-sik. Perhaps we need to wait for the draw results on October 2nd to accurately assess our chances in this tournament.

A BREAKTHROUGH IS NEEDED

The national team's chances of qualifying for the 2027 Asian Cup are extremely challenging, especially after Vietnam suffered a heavy defeat to Malaysia in the first leg, making their chances very slim. In 2019, under coach Park Hang-seo, the Vietnamese team impressively reached the quarterfinals. Compared to Park's era, Kim Sang-sik's squad is not as balanced, not to mention the current volatile landscape of Southeast Asian football. The issue of naturalization is not new, but the approach in many countries is very pragmatic. They are mass-producing foreign players, disrupting the region's football development structure according to common rules. The identity of each nation's football is now a process of adaptation and enrichment through deep integration, which Malaysia and Indonesia are fully utilizing, rather than simply filling in individual positions.

In the upcoming Asian Cup qualifiers, the two matches against Nepal (October 9th at Go Dau Stadium and October 14th at Thong Nhat Stadium, due to political instability in Nepal) and the away match against Laos (November 18th) will be good opportunities for the Vietnamese team to improve themselves before returning to Viet Tri to host Malaysia in the return leg (March 31st, 2026). In a match where we are trying to re-evaluate ourselves, both winning and losing have their own value. Coach Kim Sang-sik himself needs to refresh his approach in applying appropriate tactics for his players. Having competed in many tournaments, perhaps his strategies and tactics have been thoroughly studied by opponents and no longer hold any element of surprise. Therefore, to achieve the desired results, the Vietnamese national team or the U23 team needs a breakthrough, and of course, fans expect that breakthrough to be effective.

In late 2025 and the early months of 2026, Mr. Kim will embark on a challenging period with Vietnamese football. Although difficult, with proper preparation, success is within reach.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/doan-duong-khuc-khuyu-cua-ong-kim-sang-sik-1852509132145071.htm