Teacher Kim, do something!

Coach Kim Sang-sik officially took over the Vietnamese national team from the second round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in the Asian region, which took place in June this year. The South Korean coach started with a 3-2 victory against the Philippines. After that, Coach Kim Sang-sik's Vietnamese team lost 1-3 to Iraq. These results were quite reasonable, considering the relative strength of the Vietnamese team and their opponents at the present stage.

After the two matches in the aforementioned official tournament, coach Kim Sang-sik continued to lead the Vietnamese national team in friendly matches: a 0-3 loss to Russia, a 1-2 loss to Thailand in September, and a 1-1 draw with India on October 12 (previously a 3-2 victory against Nam Dinh FC on October 9 during a training match).

Coach Kim Sang-sik had a less than impressive start with the Vietnamese national team.

Notably, in all of the aforementioned matches, the Vietnamese national team conceded goals. Excluding the training match against Nam Dinh, Coach Kim Sang-sik's team conceded a total of 11 goals across 5 international matches. Naturally, this is a significant number of goals conceded. However, besides subjective factors, these goals also stemmed from several objective reasons that can be explained.

For example, the goals conceded against Russia (3 goals), Iraq (3 goals), and Thailand (2 goals) were almost inevitable, as these are all stronger teams than the Vietnamese national team. Even Kim Sang-sik's predecessors, coaches Troussier and Park Hang-seo, couldn't keep a clean sheet against these opponents, so Kim Sang-sik cannot be blamed.

Another objective reason is that Coach Kim Sang-sik arrived in domestic football during a transitional period in the V-League. The 2023-2024 season had just ended when the South Korean coach arrived, while the 2024-2025 season had only completed less than four rounds (with two matches remaining in round 4). Therefore, the form of domestic players was not high, affecting the quality of the national team.

As for subjective reasons, they naturally stem from the disorganization and instability of the team in the previous matches. Almost every game saw individual errors (misplaced passes, missed clearances, poor marking, etc.) leading to goals conceded.

The Vietnamese team failed to keep a clean sheet against India.

Furthermore, the defensive problems don't stem solely from this area. Because the Vietnamese midfield has been inconsistent in recent matches, lacking effective midfield control and long-range interceptions, the pressure on the defense has increased significantly. This is something the team needs to address, and can address, if coach Kim Sang-sik can stabilize the team's core lineup in the future, and if the players' performance improves.

In a few days, the V-League will resume and continue playing until just before the 2024 AFF Cup. Hopefully, with more matches, and with coach Kim Sang-sik gaining a better understanding of his players and stabilizing the squad, the Vietnamese national team will transform at the Southeast Asian Championship at the end of the year.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/hang-phong-ngu-doi-tuyen-viet-nam-dang-mong-manh-de-vo-thay-kim-lam-gi-di-185241015145502154.htm