Coach Kim Sang-sik: 'The players are full of determination and will turn pride into victories'

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Before starting the press conference on the afternoon of September 2, Coach Kim Sang-sik sent his congratulations to all Vietnamese people on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of National Day on September 2. "I believe that the Vietnamese people are proud of what they have achieved in the past 80 years and this will be the driving force to develop the country. My players also feel honored to compete on this occasion and they are full of determination to win the matches as well as achieve the best results in the 2026 AFC U23 Championship Qualifiers," said the Korean strategist.

Regarding the preparation of U23 Vietnam for the tournament, coach Kim Sang-sik said that some recent successes, including the 2023 Southeast Asian U23 Championship, have helped bring confidence and inspiration to the U23 Vietnam players. "Currently, everyone is in good condition, there are no injuries except Van Khang who has a small problem, but can still play in the opening match," he revealed.

Regarding Vietnamese-American player Tran Thanh Trung, who will not participate in the 2026 AFC U23 Championship Qualifiers, coach Kim Sang-sik said that in this training session, he selected 23 players and added Tran Thanh Trung to make preliminary assessments through training sessions. After the training sessions, he praised Tran Thanh Trung for possessing good skills and a high spirit of determination. In the future, this will be a quality addition to the team and this individual player is also very promising. "I believe he will participate in the next tournaments," he shared.

Regarding another overseas Vietnamese player, Viktor Le, explaining why he has not yet had a starting position, Coach Kim Sang-sik said that although Viktor Le is a quality player, he and the coaching staff will have appropriate calculations and specific approaches for each match.

The same is true for the 2026 AFC U23 Championship Qualifiers. According to coach Kim Sang-sik, the coaching staff has been studying opponents based on video analysis in recent days. However, quality videos are not always found. However, he believes that U23 Yemen will be the biggest opponent. "Anyway, every opponent is respected and U23 Vietnam will have a detailed plan for each match," he said.