Before Mr. Kim Sang-sik, which Korean coaches succeeded and failed in Vietnam?

'The flag bearer' Park Hang-seo

Coach Park Hang-seo is the first Korean strategist to make his mark on Vietnamese football, and is also the most successful coach to date.

In 2017, when coach Park Hang-seo sat in the "hot seat", both he and the Vietnamese team had hit rock bottom and needed a boost to break out.

The rest became history, when the Vietnamese team won the AFF Cup 2018, reached the quarterfinals of the Asian Cup 2019 and the third qualifying round of the World Cup 2022. U.23 Vietnam won 2 gold medals at the 30th and 31st SEA Games and was runner-up at the 2018 U.23 Asian Championship. The Vietnamese Olympic team also won fourth place at the 18th ASIAD. All of these historic achievements came in the short 5 years that Mr. Park was in charge.

Trước ông Kim Sang-sik, HLV Hàn Quốc nào đã thành công và thất bại ở Việt Nam?- Ảnh 1. — Coach Park Hang-seo has achieved great success

Coach Park Hang-seo's success has inspired many Korean coaches. Coming to Vietnam at the same time as Coach Park Hang-seo, Mr. Chung Hae-seong spent 1 year as an advisor but did not leave a mark at HAGL. However, when moving to Ho Chi Minh City Club, the coach who was also an assistant to Coach Guus Hiddink proved his class.

Coach Chung Hae-seong helped Ho Chi Minh City FC compete for the championship on an equal footing with Hanoi FC in the 2019 V-League despite having a limited squad. The silver medal in the V-League this season not only shows his talent in management, strategy and pragmatic football philosophy, but also raises the belief that Korean strategists are very suitable for Vietnamese football.

However, things are not that simple. Besides the success of Mr. Park Hang-seo or Chung Hae-seong, there are many Korean coaches who have "fallen off the horse" in Vietnam.

Sadness

Coach Gong Oh-kyun turned skepticism into motivation for success when he took charge of U.23 Vietnam in June 2022.

The Korean strategist was advised by Mr. Park to choose VFF to take over the coaching position of U.23 Vietnam, with his most outstanding achievement in the past being only the assistant role in the coaching staff of U.20 Korea, in the historic tournament where the young team of the kimchi country won the runner-up position.

Trước ông Kim Sang-sik, HLV Hàn Quốc nào đã thành công và thất bại ở Việt Nam?- Ảnh 2. — Coach Gong Oh-kyun was successful at U.23 Vietnam, but failed at Hanoi Police Club.

Although the journey of U.23 Vietnam at the 2022 AFC U-23 Championship was short, it left a strong mark on coach Gong Oh-kyun. He "breathed fire" into the young team with fast, attractive attacking play and a fearless spirit. U.23 Vietnam drew 1-1 with U.23 Korea (then the defending champion) and only lost in the quarter-finals to U.23 Saudi Arabia, who later won the championship.

It seemed that the success of U.23 Vietnam would create a springboard for coach Gong Oh-kyun to succeed in the V-League, but he was soon "fired" from the Hanoi Police Club after only 5 matches in charge in the middle of this season because he was not suitable.

Previously, many Korean coaches came to work in Vietnam but all left without any fanfare. That was the case with coach Lee Tae-hoon at HAGL (2019, 2020 season), coach Park Choong-kyun at Hanoi FC (2020 season), coach Lee Heung-sil at Viettel FC (2018 season), all of whom could not help the team transform.

The case of Mr. Chun Jae-ho at Hanoi FC is very special. Taking over the Hanoi team in the 2022 season to replace coach Park Choong-kyun, Mr. Chun Jae-ho led his students to the V-League and National Cup championships with convincing performances. However, Mr. Chun Jae-ho's professional mark is very faint. Hanoi FC won the championship thanks to the even squad of players, rather than the class of the coach.

However, this is not a bad statistic for Mr. Kim Sang-sik. Because most of the failures of the Korean coach in Vietnam took place at the club level. The national team is a different story. The success of Coach Park Hang-seo or to some extent Mr. Gong Oh-kyun will give Coach Kim Sang-sik more motivation to complete his mission.

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