Coach Kim Sang Sik: "The whole of Asia will know the true strength of Vietnamese football."

(Dan Tri Newspaper) - During the training session of the Vietnam U23 team, preparing for the semi-final match of the 2026 AFC U23 Asian Championship against China U23, coach Kim Sang Sik had a meaningful message for his players.

This training session took place about a day before the match. During this session, coach Kim Sang Sik mainly focused on psychological support and encouraging the players.

Coach Kim Sang Sik takes steps to boost the morale of his players (Photo: VFF).

The South Korean coach stated, "Perhaps I don't need to say much more; each player probably already knows what we need to do, and the entire Vietnam U23 team knows what we need to do."

"We must let all of Asia know what Vietnamese football is like, we must let them know what Vietnamese players are like," added coach Kim Sang Sik.

One of the key points mentioned by Mr. Kim was that the Vietnamese U23 players need to improve their physical fitness a bit more in order to meet the high intensity of the upcoming semi-final match.

The Vietnam U23 team is expected to be in good physical condition for the semi-final match (Photo: VFF).

Coach Kim Sang Sik mentioned physical fitness because it's an unexpected strength of the Vietnam U23 team in this year's tournament. The team under the South Korean coach displayed exceptional resilience against renownedly strong teams in Asia, such as the Saudi Arabia U23 or UAE U23 teams.

In particular, the UAE U23 team has several naturalized players of African origin. However, even these players of African descent still appeared exhausted against Vietnam U23 in the quarter-final match on January 16th.

Just before the semi-final match against China U23, coach Kim Sang Sik prepared for a penalty shootout. In this plan, the role of goalkeeper Tran Trung Kien was given special attention.

Trung Kien is currently considered one of the best goalkeepers in this year's U23 Asian Championship, alongside Li Hao of the Chinese U23 team. Both are very good at saving penalties.

The semi-final match between Vietnam U23 and China U23 will take place at 10:30 PM tonight at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia).

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/hlv-kim-sang-sik-ca-chau-a-se-biet-thuc-luc-bong-da-viet-nam-the-nao-20260120152657940.htm