Championship within reach

Compared to regional rivals, U22 Vietnam possesses a strong force and superior experience, as coach Kim Sang Sik brought to Indonesia faces that have been quite familiar to Southeast Asian fans in the past few years.

Khuat Van Khang, Dinh Bac, Thai Son, Quoc Viet… are certainly not strangers, because in addition to playing outstandingly in youth tournaments, they have also worn the Vietnamese national team jersey for the past couple of years.

With such a strong force, reputation and experience, the Korean strategist's goal of successfully defending the Southeast Asian championship for the U23 team is basically extremely feasible.

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With a strong force, U22 Vietnam aims for the Southeast Asian championship

Adding a championship title will also help young players "level up", have a good resume to increase their reputation, transfer value in addition to a mental boost in their career...

But coach Kim Sang Sik needs to upgrade U22 Vietnam

If the only measure of success for this tournament is the championship, then this is not a long-term vision, nor is it an expectation for coach Kim Sang Sik - the person trusted to help Vietnamese football develop.

Fans have witnessed many young players winning glory in regional tournaments, being praised and expected... but then most of them "sink" or cannot step onto the biggest stage, the Vietnamese team.

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But what experts need more is to upgrade U22 Vietnam.

The talented U23 generation that played so well under coach Gong Oh Kyun at the 2022 AFC U23 Championship, for example, after a few years, only Viet Anh, Khuat Van Khang, and Hai Long are currently regularly on the Vietnamese team, the rest are still potential, or have even disappeared...

And this is the biggest task and challenge for Mr. Kim Sang Sik when he needs to upgrade the U22 Vietnam players' football thinking, courage... in order to develop seamlessly to the Vietnam national team, instead of just having youth tournament titles.

The U23 Southeast Asian Championship is very valuable, but it will become meaningless if the generation of Van Khang, Dinh Bac... only shine in the youth tournament and then struggle to find a place in the national team.

Therefore, fans expect coach Kim Sang Sik to use this tournament as a high-quality "transit station", where young players are not only equipped with the skills to win, but also honed to become true warriors for bigger goals in the future of Vietnamese football.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/hlv-kim-sang-sik-dung-chi-nang-cap-u22-viet-nam-bang-danh-hieu-2418598.html