Coach Kim Sang-sik is helpless in finding a striker.

U22 Vietnam will certainly compete in the 33rd SEA Games and the 2026 AFC U23 Championship without a real striker. Because even the Vietnamese team, coach Kim Sang-sik, is helpless in finding a face that can confidently replace Nguyen Tien Linh and Xuan Son.

There are countless strikers in the world

In the last 5 seasons, statistics in V.League clearly show that the domestic striker position has almost disappeared from the top scorer list. From the 2020 season until now, the Golden Boot title has always belonged to foreign players, while domestic players have only appeared sporadically in the middle of the rankings.

The Vietnamese team is still waiting for Xuan Son's return as a center forward. Photo: HOANG TUNG

In the 2025/2026 season alone, according to Fstats data, in the top 10 best strikers in V.League, only midfielder Nguyen Hoang Duc (4 goals) is Vietnamese, while the rest are foreign players. This reflects a clear trend: V.League clubs put almost all their faith in scoring goals on foreign players.

In the current V.League playground, there are only a handful of potential young domestic strikers with good physique. The only outstanding ones are Bui Van Binh (born 2003, 1.78 m tall) who scored 2 goals in 9 appearances (203 minutes of play) for Cong An TP.HCM, and Nguyen Minh Tam (born 2005, 1.81 m tall) who scored 2 goals in 7 appearances (386 minutes of play) for Hoang Anh Gia Lai .

Both were mainly brought onto the field from the bench, not having enough opportunities to accumulate the experience and qualities needed of a true "number 9".

Young striker Bui Van Binh (red shirt) was the top scorer of the 2023/24 First Division with 11 goals while playing for Ba Ria - Vung Tau Club (now Ho Chi Minh City Club). Photo: CA TPHCM FC .

The story of the scarcity of domestic strikers has been mentioned for many years, since the time of Cong Vinh, Anh Duc and even Tien Linh. Remember the 2018 AFF Cup that saw coach Park Hang-seo recall veteran Nguyen Anh Duc and he was the one who scored the only goal to help Vietnam beat Malaysia 1-0 in the second leg of the final. Seven years have passed, Vietnamese football has still not been able to find a new successor, enough to expect at least in the aspect of "late blooming flower".

Waiting for Mr. Kim's resourcefulness

Coaches from Korea always attach importance to physique and physical strength, so having a true striker is an important plus point in the playing style. However, with the current state of Vietnamese football, coach Kim Sang-sik has to find another solution for scoring goals.

Since taking over the national team and U22 Vietnam, the Korean coach has started to train wingers to form more flexible strikers. He built an attacking style that revolves around speed, movement and pressing, instead of relying entirely on the striker.

Among the group of young players tested in the U22 team, names like Nguyen Quoc Viet, Nguyen Dinh Bac, Nguyen Thanh Nhan, Nguyen Ngoc My and Vo Van Thuan were all used by Mr. Kim in rotation on the attack line. Although not the classic “number 9” model, they bring the option of wide movement and multi-directional attack.

The return of Bui Vi Hao is a positive sign but we still have to wait for him to reach good form. Photo: VFF .

In addition, Mr. Kim's early recall of Bui Vi Hao is also part of his tactical calculations. This striker used to be the main striker in the An Giang youth team, possessing enough technical foundation and speed to play as both a center forward and a winger. If he regains his form after being injured and pushed to the sidelines, Vi Hao could be a card to help Coach Kim reduce some of the burden of lacking frontline personnel.

In the context that the national team is still waiting for the return of Xuan Son and Tien Linh who are too familiar to the opponents, and the U22 generation has not had any truly breakthrough faces, the problem of the striker of Vietnamese football is still the biggest concern. Coach Kim Sang-sik is forced to continue to manage in the way that Vietnamese football has been familiar with for nearly a decade.

Source: https://znews.vn/hlv-kim-sang-sik-bat-luc-tim-trung-phong-post1600612.html