Coach Kim Sang-sik was unpredictable until the last minute, the Vietnamese team won the championship in a very strange way.

Between the two AFF Cup championships (2018 and 2024), the current Vietnam team is not the strongest. However, the version under coach Kim Sang-sik is probably the most interesting and unpredictable.

The Korean coach creates surprises and paradoxes in every move of the Vietnamese team. Even fans often "go offside" with predictions about their team and opponents, if they fall into a situation where they don't know what to do, it is not difficult to understand.

Coach Kim Sang-sik always knows how to make opponents and home fans "offside".

Can't predict Vietnam team

On social media, many fans joked that they still don't know how the Vietnamese team won the championship. Some others said that coach Kim Sang-sik's secret was "no tricks to win tricks", meaning that he didn't have any special tactics so his opponents couldn't predict his moves. In terms of playing style, coach Kim Sang-sik and his team clearly didn't perform convincingly.

Throughout the tournament, even in the victories, there was a stream of criticism towards the Korean coach and his players. Comments such as "monotonous playing style", "no strategy", "only knows how to play long balls", "Xuan Son does everything"... appeared all over social media and were not without basis.

Vietnam team beat Thailand, won AFF Cup 2024.

However, all of this means nothing when the Vietnamese team still wins. Coach Kim Sang-sik and his team played 8 matches in the AFF Cup 2024, won 7, the rest were draws. The Vietnamese team may not have played well, but in the end they still won the championship.

The Vietnamese team was criticized for being boring and lacking in power in the first three matches. However, with Nguyen Xuan Son, Mr. Kim Sang-sik's tactics suddenly became reasonable and effective.

Then, when fans began to worry that the Vietnamese team would only depend on Xuan Son, the striker was injured in the decisive match. In the end, the Vietnamese team still won and scored 3 goals against Thailand on away field, something that had never happened before.

The Vietnamese team under coach Kim Sang-sik always has interesting surprises.

Use 8 different formations, save your trump cards for the last match

In a tough tournament like the AFF Cup, rotating the squad is a must. Before coach Kim Sang-sik, Mr. Park Hang Seo also used 8 different starting lineups in 8 matches for the Vietnamese team at the AFF Cup.

There are many positions in the Vietnamese team that fans still do not know who the key players are until the end of the group stage. For example, goalkeepers Nguyen Dinh Trieu and Nguyen Filip each played 2 group stage matches. It was not until Dinh Trieu started both semi-final matches against Singapore that coach Kim Sang-sik confirmed that he was the number 1 choice.

Do Duy Manh, Nguyen Quang Hai and Nguyen Tien Linh - the captains and vice-captains - were not guaranteed a starting spot, despite their good performances every time they were on the field. In fact, in the two final matches, all three players were not in the starting lineup. The captain of the Vietnamese team in the two decisive matches was Nguyen Hoang Duc.

Both the captain and vice-captain of the Vietnamese team are on the bench.

The final surprise in coach Kim Sang-sik’s personnel selection was Pham Tuan Hai. This striker played 4 times in the first 5 matches of the Vietnam team under Mr. Kim (missing only 1 match due to injury), scoring 2 goals in both starts.

At the AFF Cup 2024, he only played 38 minutes from the group stage to the end of the first leg of the final, and was not even the preferred option to enter the field in the second half.

When fans were used to Tuan Hai being on the bench, Mr. Kim surprisingly put him in the starting lineup in the second leg of the final. Tuan Hai scored the opening goal in the first half and made a shot that caused Thai defender Pansa Hemviboon to score an own goal at the end of the second half. Those were important marks that brought victory to the Vietnamese team in the final.

Throughout the journey at the AFF Cup 2024, coach Kim Sang-sik has always created such surprises. It is not possible to confirm the effectiveness or praise the "unpredictable transformation" from the unexpected factors created by the Korean coach. However, at least these details bring excitement and many things to discuss about the Vietnamese team.