U23 Vietnam: Mr. Kim Sang-sik's worries behind a victory

TPO - Despite winning two consecutive victories, U23 Vietnam still leaves behind concerns.

"U23 Vietnam wasted many opportunities, and allowing U23 Cambodia to score also caused difficulties," admitted striker Nguyen Quoc Viet after the 2-1 victory on the evening of July 22.

The U23 Vietnam team started well, dominating the opponent for most of the match and taking the lead quite early through Ly Duc. However, in the remaining time of the match, coach Kim Sang-sik's students continuously missed many good opportunities.

It was the inability to finish off the opponent early that made U23 Vietnam startled with the situation allowing the opponent to equalize the score. Fortunately, the personnel adjustments of coach Kim Sang-sik later came into play when Dinh Bac scored the decisive goal, bringing the final victory 2-1.

This is a somewhat difficult result even though U23 Vietnam is superior to its opponent. It is easy to see that after the first two matches in the group stage, U23 Vietnam has not shown a "strategic" playing style. Besides the ineffective attack, U23 Vietnam's attacks lack smoothness and cohesion.

Coach Kim Sang-sik's students missed many opportunities against weak opponents like U23 Cambodia.

The three-line formation of U23 Vietnam is often unbalanced. This is a weakness that can put Mr. Kim Sang-sik's team at a disadvantage when facing opponents of equal strength.

U23 Laos and U23 Cambodia are too weak, so the mistakes of U23 Vietnam can be corrected. But the further they go, the stronger the opponent will be, requiring the Korean coach to make adjustments. Furthermore, this is also an important preparation step for the 33rd SEA Games in Thailand at the end of the year. Therefore, in addition to the goal of defending the championship of the U23 Southeast Asian Championship, what fans are interested in is the improvement in both the playing style and the personnel of U23 Vietnam.

Watch the full 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Football Championship Mandiri Cup™ on FPT Play, visit http://fptplay.vn

Source: https://tienphong.vn/u23-viet-nam-noi-lo-voi-ong-kim-sang-sik-dang-sau-mot-tran-thang-post1762775.tpo