Coach Kim Sang-sik puts U.23 Vietnam on the right track
Vietnam U.23 defeated Philippines U.23 with a score of 2-1 (afternoon of July 25) to make it to the final of the U.23 Southeast Asia for the third consecutive time. The victory over the Philippines youth team helped coach Kim Sang-sik extend his happy days in the Southeast Asian playground, with an unbeaten streak spanning from the national team to the U.23.
Specifically, Mr. Kim and his students have gone through 11 unbeaten matches in Southeast Asian tournaments, including the Vietnam national team and U.23 Vietnam.
Coach Kim Sang-sik has an 11-match unbeaten streak in Southeast Asian tournaments.
PHOTO: DONG NGUYEN KHANG
At the national team level, coach Kim Sang-sik and his players remained unbeaten in all 8 matches within the framework of the AFF Cup 2024 (won 7, drew 1), notably winning a double victory over Thailand with scores of 2-1 and 3-2 in the final. In the group stage, the Vietnamese team also won 1-0 against Indonesia.
At the U.23 level, coach Kim Sang-sik's youth team won all 3 matches against U.23 Laos, U.23 Cambodia (group stage) and U.23 Philippines (semi-final). Thus, the Korean coach has had 11 unbeaten matches at the Southeast Asian level, spanning from December 2024 to present. Mr. Kim and his students also won 9/11 matches, achieving a winning rate of up to 82%.
Coach Kim Sang-sik's unbeaten streak in Southeast Asia is only surpassed by one person. That is Coach Park Hang-seo, who helped the Vietnam national team and U.23 Vietnam have 19 unbeaten matches lasting 3 years (from December 2018 to January 2022).
At that time, Mr. Park helped the Vietnamese team win the AFF Cup 2018 with 8 unbeaten matches (6 wins, 2 draws). A year later, U.23 Vietnam won the SEA Games 2019 with 7 unbeaten matches (6 wins, 1 draw). At the AFF Cup 2020, the Vietnamese team continued to be unbeaten in 4 group stage matches with 3 wins, 1 draw, then the unbeaten streak was stopped in the semi-finals with a 0-2 defeat to Thailand.
Coach Kim Sang-sik's rebuild
In the past year (from July 2024 to present), Coach Kim Sang-sik has coached a total of 22 matches (including official and friendly matches) at the Vietnam national team and Vietnam U.23 level, with a record of 17 wins, 2 draws, and 3 losses. The 3 defeats of the Vietnam national team came in the matches against Russia (0-3), Thailand (1-2) and Malaysia (0-4).
Compared to the crisis period at the end of coach Philippe Troussier's time (losing 10/11 matches), the Vietnamese team has somewhat regained confidence, when winning the AFF Cup 2024.
U.23 Vietnam (red shirt) is gradually asserting its ability.
PHOTO: DONG NGUYEN KHANG
Although the 0-3 defeats against Indonesia and 0-4 against Malaysia raised questions about Vietnam's limits, or about the naturalization policy needed to avoid being left behind by regional rivals... However, coach Kim Sang-sik and his students are still determined to follow their own path: selective naturalization, and still focus on developing young players. The U.23 Vietnam team that Mr. Kim is leading is the next generation in the near future of the Vietnam team.
The good news for coach Kim is that the players are all working hard and improving with each match. Coach Kim Sang-sik will have 6 months to work with youth football, competing in 3 tournaments including U.23 Southeast Asia 2025, U.23 Asia 2026 qualifiers and SEA Games 33 to evaluate the overall ability of his students. From there, the Korean coach will build a strategy to inherit and rebuild the force for the Vietnamese team.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/thang-hoa-nhu-ong-sau-sang-bat-bai-lien-7-thang-o-giai-dong-nam-a-185250726122849357.htm
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