What makes coach Kim Sang-sik special

TEACHER Kim Sang-sik's RESPONSIBILITY

In the 2025 Southeast Asian U.23 tournament, the three biggest opponents of U.23 Vietnam are not led by famous coaches.

Thailand U.23 is led by coach Thawachai Dumrongongtrakun, who has never been a name in Southeast Asian youth football. Indonesia U.23 is led by coach Gerald Vanenburg, a Dutch youth training expert who is also Patrick Kluivert's "deputy" in the Indonesian national team. Malaysia U.23 is led by Mr. Mohd Nafuzi Zain, who spent the first 12 years of his coaching career with Malaysian teams.

While opponents clearly separate the national team and U.23 level coaches, Vietnamese football assigns both the national team and U.23 to coach Kim Sang-sik. This is also the first time that U.23 Vietnam plays in the U.23 Southeast Asian tournament with a foreign coach. In 2022, U.23 Vietnam won the championship thanks to the "military command" of coach Dinh The Nam, who has coached the U.17 and U.20 youth teams. In 2023, U.23 Vietnam continued to win the championship, this time coach Hoang Anh Tuan.

Điều khiến HLV Kim Sang-sik trở nên đặc biệt- Ảnh 1. — Coach Kim Sang-sik is preparing for his first tournament with U.23 Vietnam.

The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) has helped reduce the workload of the national team head coach by handing over the U.23 team to another coach (similar to what Thailand, Indonesia, etc. have done). In fact, both domestic coaches have completed their mission by winning the U.23 Southeast Asian Championship with U.23 Vietnam, but why does coach Kim Sang-sik have to directly fight in this year's tournament?

This is not purely a matter of achievement. U.23 Vietnam is aiming for the championship, but more importantly, this is the time when coach Kim Sang-sik must directly take charge of the team to find U.23 level talent for the Vietnam team.

The Vietnamese team lost 0-4 to Malaysia's high-class "Ma-Kieu" force, leading to almost certainly losing the ticket to the 2027 Asian Cup. More worrying than the defeat is the shaken confidence. While Malaysia and Indonesia have a very high-quality source of foreign-origin players and are ready to naturalize massively to serve short-term goals, Vietnamese football has not been able to find a source of overseas Vietnamese or naturalized foreign players that work well together. Coach Kim's force is still mainly domestic players, where the mainstays are about to enter the other side of their careers, while the young generation (U.23, U.20) are still... "hiding" somewhere. In the match against Malaysia, coach Kim Sang-sik only used 1 player considered a discovery from the U.23 Vietnam team (center back Pham Ly Duc) when he had no other options.

Sharing with the press, the VFF leader affirmed that the goal of the Vietnamese team is not to naturalize massively, but still have to take domestic players, especially the young generation, as the core for development.

However, this path is full of hardships, as the U.23 generation is still far behind their seniors in the Vietnam national team. In this context, coach Kim Sang-sik also finds it difficult to take care of each young player at the national team level, because the pressure of achievement forces him to give opportunities to experienced players instead of taking risks with young players.

Therefore, Mr. Kim's presence in U.23 Vietnam not only helps him find talent through training and combat, but also opens the door for U.23 Vietnam players to get used to the philosophy, tactics and physical training, creating conditions for the "rising stars" to easily join the national team later.

U.23 Vietnam will overcome the pressure

At the press conference before the U.23 Southeast Asian tournament, coach Kim Sang-sik highly appreciated his opponents, but was also very determined. The Korean coach affirmed: "U.23 Thailand is a very strong team, the players have good individual skills. U.23 Indonesia has impressive speed and physical strength. These are two formidable teams, capable of competing for the championship. However, the players and I always practice hard, practice tactics and ensure good physical strength. Each upcoming match is a final. I always set the highest goals and spirit to win each match."

Coach Kim Sang-sik also summarized the preparation process of U.23 Vietnam when he assessed: "The players are younger, more enthusiastic and ready to listen to instructions. Over the past two weeks of training, I have seen that the players have the ability to learn quickly, build a good team, and at the same time show great passion and motivation. I know that U.23 Vietnam has won the championship twice, so there is a certain pressure in this tournament. My students and I will try to practice hard to achieve the best results."

U.23 Vietnam will play its opening match against U.23 Laos (Group B) at 5:00 p.m. on July 19. Then at 8:00 p.m. on July 22, the team will face U.23 Cambodia.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/dieu-khien-hlv-kim-sang-sik-tro-nen-dac-biet-185250715203821313.htm