Vietnam Team: Coach Kim Sang Sik dreams of creating miracles again

Coach Kim Sang Sik is joining the Vietnam national team instead of the Vietnam U22 team as previously rumored, hoping to create a miracle in the biggest playground in Asia - Asian Cup 2027.

Big goals

According to initial calculations, Coach Kim Sang Sik set a high target of winning the SEA Games gold medal with U22 Vietnam and playing well at the 2026 AFC U23 Championship. This is the main reason why the Korean captain has taken special care of this generation of players over the past time.

In fact, according to experts, Coach Kim Sang Sik must succeed with U22 if he wants to continue to be associated with Vietnamese football for a long time. The reason is because he has not yet built a truly impressive playing style for both U22 Vietnam and the Vietnamese national team during his time in charge.

Coach Kim Sang Sik wants to conquer youth tournaments with U22 Vietnam

In particular, the heavy defeat against Malaysia in the Asian Cup qualifiers in June has almost closed the door to the finals, so U22 (or U23) is the savior if Mr. Kim Sang Sik wants to continue to be associated with Vietnamese football.

For these reasons, there have been many predictions that in the upcoming November training session, coach Kim Sang Sik will focus all his attention and personally lead the U22 Vietnam team to participate in the tournament in China, while handing over the Vietnam team to assistant Dinh Hong Vinh to take charge before returning right before the match against Laos.

Why did Mr. Kim Sang Sik "turn around"?

On the day the list of Vietnam national team and U22 Vietnam was announced, contrary to predictions, coach Kim Sang Sik gave a rather clear message (though not directly): giving up the command of the Panda Cup to assistant Dinh Hong Vinh.

This means the Korean captain will personally lead the Vietnamese team in the coming days, instead of going to China to best prepare for the match against Laos.

But the latest developments made coach Kim Sang Sik... turn around.

This change in strategy by the Korean strategist clearly has its reasons. Firstly, the door to the Asian Cup for Vietnam is wide open because of the controversy related to Malaysia using naturalized players against regulations.

Once Malaysia lost both matches against Nepal and Vietnam, coach Kim Sang Sik and his team would benefit greatly. Therefore, the captain wants to directly follow the home team to prepare for the final round taking place in Saudi Arabia in 2027.

Second, the concern about U22 has eased. Although not perfect, but with a talented group of players, they are still considered the brightest candidate for the upcoming SEA Games gold medal. This allows Mr. Kim to temporarily trust his assistant to take charge.

More importantly, the Korean strategist is paying more attention to the Vietnamese team at the present time because of the issue of naturalized personnel. In the near future, there will likely be more high-quality naturalized players such as Gustavo, Janclesio, Geovane, Patrik Le Giang added...

It is reasonable for coach Kim Sang Sik to directly monitor the team from now on so that when the newly naturalized team joins, he can quickly build a playing style and cohesion to conquer the Asian Cup goal and further the 2030 World Cup qualifiers.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/tuyen-viet-nam-hlv-kim-sang-sik-lai-mo-tao-ky-tich-2460641.html