Korean expert: Vietnam team avoids Indonesia's mistake of naturalization

Hello expert Bae Ji Won, thank you for accepting the interview with Dan Tri newspaper. The Vietnamese team had a rather difficult friendly match against Cambodia on March 19. What is your assessment of this match?

- In the recent friendly match with Cambodia, the Vietnamese team did not perform well enough in many aspects, contrary to the fans' expectations. First of all, if we look at the statistics of the match, we can clearly see the reason.

The Vietnamese team had a total of 162 attacks compared to Cambodia's 117, in which Vietnam's number of dangerous attacks was also superior with a score of 74 - 51. However, the ball control rate was equal, at 50-50.

This means that the Vietnamese team was more effective in taking advantage of opportunities to win. However, in detail, the Vietnamese team had more shots on target (7 compared to Cambodia's 5) and also had more shots off target. Of course, this difference is not too big.

That shows that the Vietnamese team has not been able to completely overwhelm its opponents, while Cambodia is not too far behind in terms of game position. In addition, the lack of organization in the Vietnamese team's defense and the weak ability to defend in losing situations are also points that need to be improved before the upcoming important tournaments.

The national team is a collection of the best players. In the case of the Vietnam team, it is a collection of the best players from domestic clubs. Therefore, they need to show good form and have a guaranteed physical foundation, which helps increase the ability to win against the opponent.

Especially when facing strong teams, physical strength and tactics must be good enough to bring positive results. In addition, if the Vietnam team wants to be recognized as a strong team in Asia, beyond the Southeast Asian region, the team needs to maintain stable performance in every match.

Therefore, the friendly match with Cambodia is important because it shows that the Vietnamese team has not achieved the desired perfection, and also points out the points that need to be overcome.

So, in your opinion, what are the points that need to be overcome?

- I have pointed out the problems of the Vietnamese team in controlling the match as well as professional statistics in the above section. Because the national team is gathered from the best players of the domestic tournament, it can be assessed that on an individual level, the players performed quite well.

However, because the players come from many different clubs, the organization and cohesion in the gameplay are not really tight.

In particular, the connection between players is not really smooth, leading to difficulties in communicating tactical ideas as well as understanding the team's overall tactics. In addition, the difference between young players and experienced players can sometimes cause tactical problems.

In addition, the team needs to overwhelm the opponent physically to increase the chance of winning against strong teams. On the contrary, when facing weaker teams, if the physical strength is not guaranteed, the Vietnamese team will have difficulty in winning overwhelmingly.

The hard-fought victory over Cambodia, a weaker opponent, could also be a result of the aforementioned tactical and physical problems. An important feature of the national team is that it has only a short period of time to prepare before each tournament.

Therefore, the problem is how to optimize the physical condition of players from different clubs and how to combine appropriate tactics to maximize physical advantages, thereby improving the team's performance.

Some people say that the Vietnamese team is having difficulties because of striker Nguyen Xuan Son?

- I disagree with that statement. In Indonesia, most of the players in the national team are naturalized players from the Netherlands. China has also naturalized a number of foreign players with outstanding abilities in the national championship.

However, despite having many naturalized players, both teams still failed to achieve the expected results. Indonesia's heavy loss to Australia is a case in point. China's performance was even worse.

Under coach Park Hang Seo, the Vietnamese team has achieved impressive results despite not having naturalized players like Xuan Son. If too much expectation and role is placed on naturalized players, the team may face problems related to sudden tactical changes or unstable playing style.

Vietnamese football has achieved many good results with domestic players. Over-reliance on a single individual can cause tactical risks. Therefore, Vietnamese football needs to avoid the mistakes of Indonesia and China.

In that sense, naturalized players should be seen as a special strategic option, not a decisive factor in the success or failure of the team. If a naturalized player is seen as an indispensable link in the team's tactical system, it can also negatively affect the overall cohesion and organization of the team.

If the Vietnamese team continues to play like this, will the pressure soon return to coach Kim Sang Sik?

- When comparing current managers in football, the easiest way to judge is to put them next to their predecessors.

If the opponent is a strong team, the preferred strategy is usually to minimize losses. Conversely, when facing weaker teams, the goal is to control the match, dominate the game and win thanks to reasonable tactics and superior physical strength.

In particular, friendly matches play an important role in identifying and overcoming tactical and physical problems of the team. However, if these problems are not improved in both friendly and official matches, it will be difficult for the Vietnamese team to achieve good results in major continental tournaments.

The goal of the friendly matches is to help the Vietnamese team overcome weaknesses, test the players' performance and adjust tactics. Therefore, the most important thing is still to aim for good results in major tournaments.

It was the problems in tactics and player management that made coach Troussier constantly criticized in the past. However, Mr. Troussier has never experienced the AFF Cup. Therefore, it is difficult to fully evaluate his ability to apply tactics in this tournament.

On the contrary, coach Kim Sang Sik participated in the AFF Cup for the first time and achieved good results. Therefore, he is under great pressure to continue to make his mark in the upcoming continental tournaments. However, the major tournaments in Asia are of a completely different level than the AFF Cup.

Therefore, coach Kim Sang Sik needs to quickly overcome the current weaknesses of the Vietnamese team and perfect the tactical system. If these are just friendly matches, the Vietnamese team may continue to reveal problems and limitations in major tournaments, leading to results that are not as expected.

In terms of personnel, it seems that coach Kim Sang Sik has built a core, but the gap between the starting lineup and the reserve players is still quite large. Do you agree with this assessment?

- Teams that are considered strong usually have a small gap between the starting lineup and the reserve players. However, depending on the development of the match, a reserve player can make an excellent performance or, conversely, show poor performance.

Therefore, the players with the best tactical ability are often given priority to be in the starting lineup. The most obvious difference between the reserve players and the main lineup lies in the ability to control the match, regulate the game and take advantage of scoring opportunities.

If Cambodia is underestimated and Vietnam proactively uses many reserve players from the beginning, there must be a clear purpose for this decision.

The goal could be to test the abilities of reserve players through friendly matches, motivate the team by giving them more playing time, or help reserve players improve their tactical understanding and ability to coordinate with key members.

I don’t know why coach Kim Sang Sik changed the starting lineup, but in general, it can be considered based on the above factors. However, the Vietnam team needs to find a solution to narrow the gap between the reserve players and the main squad in order to achieve good results in the upcoming major tournaments in Asia.

However, in reality, most teams that participate in major tournaments have around 18-20 players available to play. Of course, there are exceptions, but this is the general trend.

What is your prediction for the match between Vietnam and Laos at Binh Duong Stadium at 7:30 p.m. today (March 25) in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers?

- I think that at the moment, Vietnamese fans are not too concerned about winning against Southeast Asian teams or not, except for Thailand and Indonesia. The main goal of the Vietnamese team is not to win against Southeast Asian teams by how many goals, but to achieve good results in major tournaments in Asia.

Laos has almost no chance of winning against Vietnam. Of course, in football, statistics and probability never guarantee 100% certainty about the outcome of a match. However, based on the facts from previous confrontations, it can be affirmed that the stronger team always has a significantly higher probability of winning.

This is not only true in Southeast Asia or Asia, but also a common trend in world football, including Europe. Laos is ranked as the weakest team in the Southeast Asian region. The reason can be clearly seen through their past results.

Instead of discussing the possibility of the Vietnamese team winning or losing against this opponent, what is more important is how coach Kim Sang Sik's team needs to prepare in terms of tactics, physical strength and coordination to have the best performance against Laos.

Thank you for the conversation!

Content: Ngoc Trung

Design: Tuan Huy

03/25/2025 - 09:05

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/chuyen-gia-han-quoc-tuyen-viet-nam-tranh-vet-xe-do-nhap-tich-cua-indonesia-20250324180525188.htm