U22 Vietnam attends Panda Cup: Coach Kim Sang Sik's goal

U22 Vietnam participating in Panda Cup in China does not put too much emphasis on achievements, because what coach Kim Sang Sik needs most from the team is to improve in playing style and operation.

Opportunity for U22 Vietnam

The Panda Cup friendly tournament taking place in China from November 12-18 offers U22 Vietnam a valuable opportunity to compete, hone their skills and gain more international competition experience.

In the context of tournaments such as SEA Games 33 and the 2026 AFC U23 Championship approaching, facing strong opponents such as the host team U22 China, U23 Uzbekistan or U22 Korea is an opportunity that could not be better for coach Kim Sang Sik and his team.

U22 Vietnam played well in the tournament held in March 2025

The upcoming tournament is also a golden time for coach Kim Sang Sik, or interim Dinh Hong Vinh, to conduct a comprehensive review of the team and play style. This is the final rehearsal for two major goals: SEA Games 33 at the end of next year and the 2026 AFC U23 Championship at the beginning of the year.

What is the goal of coach Kim Sang Sik?

At the Panda Cup held in March 2025, U22 Vietnam impressed by drawing with three strong teams: China, South Korea and Uzbekistan. Therefore, in theory, coach Kim Sang Sik and assistant Dinh Hong Vinh can completely aim to improve their performance, even aiming for a victory in this comeback.

However, as Mr. Kim Sang Sik himself has shared many times, the most important thing for the team is still the effectiveness in playing style and the ability to operate the tactical system. Although U22 Vietnam has had good results in recent times, their performance has not been really convincing.

However, both coach Kim Sang Sik and interim manager Dinh Hong Vinh have set different goals.

The most prominent problem is the defense, despite having many tall and experienced players, they still conceded goals due to high balls and set pieces - the reason for the unfortunate losses in the U23 Southeast Asia and the U23 Asia qualifiers.

Not only that, the attacking performance of U22 Vietnam also needs to be improved when the young strikers still lack sharpness in the final stages. That is the reason why coach Kim Sang Sik wants to take advantage of the Panda Cup to evaluate the whole team, from defense to attack, before entering the final preparation stage for the SEA Games or the U23 Asian Cup.

It can be seen that the achievements at Panda Cup are just secondary, the most important thing is to handle all the existing problems, aiming for the SEA Games, and especially the U23 Asian Cup Finals with the most peace of mind.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/u22-viet-nam-du-panda-cup-muc-tieu-cua-hlv-kim-sang-sik-2461458.html