U22 Vietnam is in a precarious situation.

The 2-1 victory over U22 Laos in the opening match of SEA Games 33 brought home all 3 points, but exposed a reality: U22 Vietnam is more precarious than ever.

Facing an opponent that was rated much lower, coach Kim Sang Sik's team still revealed a series of limitations, from weak finishing ability, low attacking efficiency to loose defense at key moments.

These problems are not new. From the 2024 U23 Asian qualifiers to the U23 Southeast Asian tournament earlier this year, U22 Vietnam has repeatedly made similar mistakes: lacking sharpness in front of goal, easily falling into a deadlock when the opponent plays a large defense, and always leaving a feeling of insecurity every time they are counter-attacked. The improvement is almost negligible, even though coach Kim Sang Sik and his team have had a long time to concentrate and compete.

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U22 Vietnam still won, but left too many worries

That reality raises the question: can U22 Vietnam complete the goal of winning the 33rd SEA Games gold medal when the opponents all tend to develop faster, stronger and more unpredictable, while at the same time, coach Kim Sang Sik's team seems to be marking time?

There is no easy answer, but one thing is certain: to complete the goal, U22 Vietnam needs a comprehensive change.

What changes?

The first change must come from the mentality. U22 Vietnam has had a series of good results over the past year, but this has created overconfidence.

Dinh Bac is a typical example. Although he shined with a double against U22 Laos, he played quite individually in many other situations. Many good chances were missed just because he tried to complete his hat-trick, instead of passing the ball to a teammate in a more favorable position.

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Coach Kim Sang Sik may need to make adjustments to make his team more different.

The next change must come from the people. Up front, Quoc Viet and Thanh Nhan are experienced, but their current form is not enough to create a breakthrough. Continuously relying on the old framework makes U22 Vietnam easy to predict and lacks freshness.

Faces like Le Phat, Cong Phuong or Ngoc My need to be given more opportunities when they want to prove themselves. Most importantly, these faces are new enough to make it difficult for opponents to predict.

In fact, coach Kim Sang Sik himself needs to be more bold in rotating and changing the operating system. SEA Games 33 is a short tournament, if the team only relies on "habits", it will be difficult to go far.

U22 Vietnam won the opening match, but clearly still did not make everyone too confident. To go further and be more effective, coach Kim Sang Sik and his team must quickly change.

Watch SEA Games 33, side by side with the Vietnamese Sports Delegation, most fully onFPT Play, at: http://fptplay.vn

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/u22-viet-nam-hlv-kim-sang-sik-can-thay-doi-gi-de-gat-qua-ngot-2469881.html