U.23 Vietnam lacks 'little Xuan Son': Coach Kim Sang-sik deals with it with unique tactics

Unlike the Vietnam national team, U.23 Vietnam will not have an all-round striker like Nguyen Xuan Son to look forward to.

U.23 Vietnam looking for key players in attack

Coach Kim Sang-sik's first success with Vietnamese football (winning the 2024 AFF Cup) is associated with the figure of Nguyen Xuan Son.

Thanks to possessing an all-round striker with outstanding physique, ability to sweep and finish, Mr. Kim has built the Vietnamese team to play defensive counter-attacks, combined with long balls over the line for Xuan Son to handle. Therefore, the Vietnamese team can both ensure safety in defense with a large number of players, and have enough power in attack when Xuan Son alone can "balance" 2 defenders.

However, the challenge at U.23 Vietnam is very different. Coach Kim Sang-sik called up 8 young strikers, but none of them reached (or approached) the level of an all-round striker like Nguyen Xuan Son.

U.23 Vietnam (red shirt) won 5-0 against U.23 Taiwan in a friendly match.

PHOTO: NGUYEN KHANG

It is difficult to blame young strikers, when even in the Vietnam national team, there is no striker who can play like Xuan Son. In the U.23 team where young players are still struggling to find a place, finding an all-round striker is impossible.

The strikers under coach Kim Sang-sik all have only a few advantages. For example, Nguyen Quoc Viet is good at seizing opportunities and scoring goals. Nguyen Thanh Nhan is hard-working, good at pressing, and passionate about competing. Nguyen Dinh Bac has an ideal physique and good personal skills. Bui Alex is versatile and can play in many positions. Meanwhile, Nguyen Ngoc My has good speed and jumping ability.

Each player is like a puzzle piece, and what one lacks is sometimes what another needs. Instead of expecting an all-round striker like Xuan Son brings to the Vietnam team, coach Kim Sang-sik will build a more harmonious U.23 Vietnam team, perfectly blending flavors to create a standard "cocktail".

Football is ultimately a team sport, where flawed players can still form a strong team if properly assembled.

Imposing the 3-5-2 formula and gameplay

In U.23 Vietnam, where there are no strikers of outstanding ability, coach Kim Sang-sik's students must control the game better.

The solution that coach Kim Sang-sik proposed was a 3-center-back formation. It is still a familiar playing system to ensure continuity from the U.23 team to the national team, similar to what his predecessors like Park Hang-seo or Philippe Troussier did.

However, instead of using the 3-4-3 formation, Mr. Kim used 3-5-2, which means cutting 1 winger to add 1 central midfielder.

Viktor Le wears the captain's armband in the second half.

PHOTO: NGUYEN KHANG

In the match against U.23 Taiwan, U.23 Vietnam deployed the ball rhythmically and systematically from the defense, then rotated through the midfield and the two wings. With a large number of central midfielders (3 people), U.23 Vietnam controlled the rhythm better.

Compared to the Vietnam national team (familiar with playing with 2 central midfielders), Mr. Kim increased the number of midfield players for U.23 Vietnam to increase control, helping to maintain a stable playing rhythm. In the context of young players having difficulty controlling the tempo and playing mentality like their seniors in the Vietnam national team, having a more dense midfield helps U.23 Vietnam to have a solid grasp of the game and always maintain the initiative.

On the attack line, Mr. Kim arranged 1 striker and 1 attacking midfielder, in which the two players would continuously switch positions, or move up together to form a pair of strikers to put pressure.

In the 5-0 victory over U.23 Taiwan, instead of concentrating the ball on 1 or 2 players, U.23 Vietnam attacked very evenly in the middle and the wings thanks to the intelligent and coordinated movements of strikers such as Van Truong, Phi Hoang, Quoc Viet, Viktor Le...

Coach Kim allows players to freely create, show off their individual skills as well as team coordination. "Be confident in expressing your passion," he told his students.

Any player can suddenly step up as a striker, or penetrate the penalty area to find space to score.

The lack of a "hard" striker is sometimes a strength of U.23 Vietnam. Opponents will have difficulty against a well-balanced attack that can open fire from any position. The large attacking force promises to help coach Kim create a multi-faceted U.23 Vietnam, in the context that the whole team will face many opponents from weak to strong, with many different playing philosophies in this year's tournament.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/u23-viet-nam-thieu-tieu-xuan-son-hlv-kim-sang-sik-xu-tri-bang-dau-phap-doc-la-185250704112226977.htm