Coach Kim Sang-sik noted an extremely important thing about U.23 Vietnam, overseas Vietnamese star was praised

U.23 Vietnam needs to improve ball control and maintain team distance, that is the request coach Kim Sang-sik gave to Mr. Dinh Hong Vinh in the October training session.

U.23 Vietnam needs to improve passing ability

On the afternoon of October 5, U.23 Vietnam had its first training session at the Vietnam Youth Football Training Center ( Hanoi ). In the October training session, Coach Kim Sang-sik continued to hand over the U.23 team to acting head coach Dinh Hong Vinh, as Mr. Kim was busy leading the Vietnam team to play in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers.

Sharing with the press before the training session, Mr. Dinh Hong Vinh affirmed that coach Kim Sang-sik had carefully instructed his assistants about the aspects that U.23 Vietnam needed to improve.

U.23 Vietnam reunites

PHOTO: VFF

"In order to complete the goal at SEA Games 33 and the 2026 AFC U23 Championship finals, in this training session, coach Kim Sang-sik shared with me the need to focus on passing the ball, team distance and space behind the defense," said Mr. Dinh Hong Vinh.

At the 2026 AFC U23 Championship, Vietnam U23 is in Group A with host Saudi Arabia U23, Jordan U23 and Kyrgyzstan U23. All three opponents of Vietnam U23 are strong. Saudi Arabia U23 not only has home field advantage, but also won the championship in 2022, and is considered one of the top candidates for the throne. Jordan U23 finished third in 2013, twice reaching the quarter-finals in 2016 and 2020, while Kyrgyzstan U23 won the ticket as the group winner in the qualifying round.

This is a competitive group but U.23 Vietnam can be completely confident in their ability. Coach Kim and his team's goal is to get a ticket to the quarter-finals.

Vietnam U23 will have two quality friendly matches with Qatar U23 during their training trip in the UAE this October. In November, the team will participate in an international tournament in China. This tournament is expected to bring together China U23, Vietnam U23 and two other strong U23 teams from the continent, promising to be an important opportunity for coach Kim Sang-sik and his team to continue practicing tactics, perfecting the squad and accumulating experience before the big goals.

U.23 Vietnam still needs to improve team formation distance

PHOTO: MINH TU

"We want to win the 33rd SEA Games and go deep in the Asian tournament. Therefore, the two friendly matches with U.23 Qatar are very important, to test and evaluate the potential and quality of players to supplement the upcoming U.23 Vietnam team," Mr. Dinh Hong Vinh emphasized.

Overseas Vietnamese Vadim Nguyen is highly appreciated

In this training session, Mr. Dinh Hong Vinh and coach Kim Sang-sik agreed to call up 3 overseas Vietnamese players, including Le Viktor (Ha Tinh), Tran Thanh Trung (Ninh Binh) and Vadim Nguyen ( Da Nang ).

Both Tran Thanh Trung and Vadim Nguyen were born in 2005 and are promising faces. Thanh Trung has played professionally since 2013, with 62 matches for Slavia Sofia in the Bulgarian national championship. Thanh Trung is in the top 3 best young players in Bulgaria in the 2024 - 2025 season and has played for many youth teams of this country.

Vadim Nguyen has a "quieter" CV, but also grew up from the FK Rostov (Russia) academy. He has a beautiful body (1.75 m tall), a versatile playing style when playing as both a central midfielder and a winger. The "multi-tasking", along with the direct, methodical, and neat playing style of Thanh Trung and Vadim are characteristics of talents trained in Europe.

"I appreciate Vadim Nguyen's expertise. Mr. Kim, the coaching staff and the scouting team always interact continuously, providing criteria to evaluate and select factors for U.23 Vietnam," Mr. Vinh affirmed.

The interim coach of U.23 Vietnam also shared the reason why Le Viktor joined the training late. "He suffered a minor thigh injury in the 65th minute of the match between Ha Tinh and PVF-CAND (round 6 of V-League). In addition, the journey from Ha Tinh to Hanoi was affected by storms and floods, and there were no flights. Le Viktor joined the training late, but was present this morning. We share the difficulties with him."

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/hlv-kim-sang-sik-luu-y-mot-dieu-cuc-quan-trong-ve-u23-viet-nam-sao-viet-kieu-duoc-khen-ngoi-185251005182610901.htm