Coach Kim Sang Sik: 'U23 Vietnam defenders must be very focused against the Philippines'

Speaking before the semi-final match of the U23 Southeast Asian tournament, coach Kim Sang Sik highly appreciated the U23 Philippines and asked the U23 Vietnam defenders to be very focused to lock down the opponent's strikers.

Coach Kim Sang Sik at the press conference before the semi-final match with U23 Philippines - Photo: ANH KHOA

At noon on July 24, the press conference before the semi-finals of the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Championship took place in Indonesia. The Vietnam U23 team will meet the Philippines U23 team in the first semi-final match at 4:00 p.m. tomorrow (July 25).

At the beginning of the press conference, coach Kim Sang Sik expressed his determination to bring the Vietnam U23 team to achieve good results against the Philippines U23.

"First of all, I am very happy to be in the semi-finals of the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Championship. We won all 2 matches in the group stage thanks to the efforts of the players, coaching staff and other team members," he said.

We will try our best on the field in the upcoming semi-final match. U23 Vietnam will try to prepare well to achieve favorable results."

Updating the injury situation of central defender Pham Ly Duc, coach Kim Sang Sik said: "He was injured during the warm-up in the match against U23 Cambodia, having a problem with his ankle. Ly Duc's ability to play in the semi-finals is still uncertain. We need to monitor more in today's training session before deciding."

Goalkeeper Trung Kien at the press conference before the semi-final match with U23 Philippines - Photo: ANH KHOA

Compared to the group stage, U23 Philippines is stronger than U23 Laos and U23 Cambodia. Therefore, coach Kim Sang Sik respects his opponents and requires his players to play with concentration.

He said: "The strength of U23 Philippines is defensive counter-attack with players number 7 (striker Otu Banatao) and number 20 (striker Javier Mariona) being very dangerous. The defenders of U23 Vietnam team need to be very focused to lock down these two players."

Coach Kim Sang Sik also expressed regret that U23 Malaysia was eliminated from the group stage. "U23 Malaysia played well but was unlucky. At this point, the four teams entering the semi-finals are equally strong," said the Korean coach.

For his part, goalkeeper Tran Trung Kien said that he and the U23 Vietnam team are ready to play against the U23 Philippines. "Recently, I and the entire U23 Vietnam team have been very focused and determined to prepare for the upcoming two matches."

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/hlv-kim-sang-sik-hau-ve-u23-viet-nam-phai-rat-tap-trung-truoc-philippines-20250724131014094.htm