Vietnam team lacks friendly matches of sufficient strength
Not counting the first two matches in January at the AFF Cup 2024, the Vietnamese team ended 2025 with five matches in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers, including four wins against Laos (5-0, 2-0), Nepal (3-1, 1-0) and one loss (0-4 against Malaysia).
In the friendly match, Coach Kim Sang-sik's students only had one match, which was a test match with Cambodia at Binh Duong Stadium in March (the Vietnamese team won with a hard-fought score of 2-1). Besides that, there were two closed matches with CAHN and Nam Dinh Clubs in September.
With only 1 international friendly match in 5 FIFA Days (in March, June, September, October, November), the Vietnamese team seems to "forget" the friendly front in 2025 when the focus is on U.23 Vietnam.
The Vietnamese team lacks friendly matches of sufficient importance.
PHOTO: THUY AN
The 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers are not the reason why the Vietnamese team plays few friendly matches. The proof is that only in October, Vietnam has a full schedule with 2 official matches against Nepal. In June and November, the national team only plays a maximum of 1 official match, and even in September, there are no official matches. However, Mr. Kim and his team still do not play any friendly matches.
In June, the Vietnamese team did not play any warm-up matches before meeting Malaysia (players such as Duy Manh, Van Vi, and Hai Long also played a friendly match with coach Kim Sang-sik against Manchester United before moving to Malaysia).
In September, when Mr. Kim went to work in the Asian Cup qualifiers, the Vietnam team was assigned to head coach Dinh Hong Vinh.
The 2 friendly matches with CAHN and Nam Dinh clubs, although of good quality because the opponents used many high-class foreign players (almost like a friendly match with a South American team), were still closed door friendly matches.
In November, the Vietnamese team also did not take advantage of FIFA Days to play friendly matches, but only played 1 match with Laos during the 2 weeks of training.
The thin friendly schedule in 2025 contrasts with the vibrant 2023, when coach Philippe Troussier's Vietnam team competes with Hong Kong and Syria (June), Palestine (September), South Korea, China, Uzbekistan (October).
The Vietnam team needs difficult matches to improve its level.
PHOTO: MINH TU
By 2024, when the Vietnam team was taken over by coach Kim Sang-sik, the number of friendly matches had decreased but the quality was still acceptable. The Vietnam team met Russia, Thailand (September), India (October), then went to Korea to train and play friendly matches with 3 clubs before participating in the AFF Cup.
Need more 'trial by fire'
The lack of friendly matches affects the quality of the Vietnamese team. How will Mr. Kim's students improve if they only play against Laos, Nepal and Cambodia for a whole year?
The goal of the Vietnamese team in 2026 is to defend the AFF Cup 2026 throne and build strength for the Asian Cup 2027 and the 2030 World Cup qualifiers.
The key opponents of Mr. Kim and his team will be teams in the top 20 of Asia, strong like Korea, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Iran, Jordan, Qatar, or at least Oman, UAE, Kyrgyzstan, Iraq, Indonesia, Thailand...
Look at Indonesia. Despite being eliminated in the World Cup play-off round, the archipelago nation faced Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, China in the third qualifying round, and then Saudi Arabia and Iraq in the play-off round. That is the experience the Vietnamese team had in 2021, under coach Park Hang-seo. Only by constantly competing with strong opponents can the team maintain the intensity of Asian-class football, learn and accumulate experience.
However, the current Vietnamese team consists of 100% of the players playing in the V-League, and Mr. Kim and his team have not faced any strong opponents, except for teams ranked from 140 to 185 in Asia. Where will progress come from?
The Vietnamese team needs a more dense and bustling competition schedule in 2026, to at least maintain and then advance to a new level.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/doi-tuyen-viet-nam-can-quan-xanh-cuc-manh-de-vo-dich-aff-cup-185251125120241407.htm
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