The weakness that once made U.22 Vietnam 'disillusioned', Mr. Kim should not make the same mistake as his predecessor!

The 'bitter' lesson of U.22 Vietnam

U.22 Vietnam will embark on the journey to conquer the 33rd SEA Games at the end of this year in Thailand. Although coach Kim Sang-sik still has 9 months to choose his players, it is believed that young players in their twenties such as Dinh Bac, Vi Hao, Thai Son, Van Khang, Quoc Viet, Van Cuong, Thanh Nhan, Trung Kien, Ly Duc, Xuan Tien... will have the opportunity to show their talent.

Among them, many players participated in the 32nd SEA Games in Cambodia 2 years ago. That was the SEA Games in which U.22 Vietnam participated as the defending champion, but in the end only won the bronze medal.

Coach Troussier and his students "fell hard" at SEA Games 32

In the tournament 2 years ago, coach Philippe Troussier's students finished second in Group B after defeating U.22 Malaysia, U.22 Singapore, U.22 Laos and drawing with U.22 Thailand, with 10 points each but ranked behind due to a lower goal difference than the Thai youth team. Overall, the performance of U.22 Vietnam was at an acceptable level. Thanh Nhan and her teammates gradually improved with each match, demonstrating the idea of ​​control, confidently deploying the game and attacking with clarity.

In the semi-final match against U.22 Indonesia, U.22 Vietnam also created an interesting chase. Van Tung scored to put Mr. Troussier's team ahead, before U.22 Indonesia rose up to score 2 goals to reverse the situation, then Xuan Tien scored again to bring the match back to the starting line.

Notably, U.22 Vietnam had the advantage of playing with one more player from the 59th minute, but when facing the dense and dedicated defense of U.22 Indonesia, the young Vietnamese players played deadlocked. The tragedy came in the last minute, when U.22 Vietnam pushed up their formation to attack and lost the ball. The opponent organized a quick counterattack, then scored the decisive goal to enter the semi-finals.

That was the "bitter" ending of U.22 Vietnam. Many people regretted that perhaps if the match had gone into extra time, Coach Troussier's students would have surely won. Because at that time U.22 Vietnam was still playing with one more player, in the context of the opponent being exhausted. Coach Troussier also grasped the situation, when he signaled his students to slow down, firmly controlling the match with the priority of keeping the score at 2-2.

However, U.22 Vietnam still rushed forward with the desire to finish off their opponents within 90 minutes. This was a "fatal" mistake, causing the door to the SEA Games final to close.

Thanh Nhan (white shirt) and her teammates have matured after the fall?

Coach Troussier has built a style of play that emphasizes control, encouraging his players to develop the ball smoothly and systematically from the home field. This philosophy is used instead of the defensive counter-attack style that Coach Park Hang-seo once cultivated. However, any style of play requires experience and courage to operate. Playing like Coach Troussier is even riskier, requiring players to focus on keeping a "cool head" throughout the match.

However, U.22 Vietnam collapsed at the last minute, because many young stars lacked experience and there were no seniors to guide them (SEA Games 32 does not allow over-age players).

What does coach Kim Sang-sik need?

With the level of Southeast Asian football, the difference in skill or playing mindset between young players from Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia or Vietnam is not too big.

The core difference between winners and losers is the mentality of the game. Especially in semi-finals and finals, victory often belongs to the team that makes fewer mistakes.

At the age of 20, when only 3 players who played in the 2024 U.23 Asian Cup are currently in the V-League, it is difficult to expect the team under coach Kim Sang-sik to have a solid foundation of experience.

Very few U.22 players have a place in the V-League like Vi Hao (white shirt)

However, this is a common difficulty for the teams participating in the tournament. Even U.22 Thailand and U.22 Indonesia are struggling with the problem of experience. For Thai youth football, the quality of the next generation is questioned. As for Indonesia, naturalized players have taken almost all the spots of local players in the national team.

The fact that young Vietnamese players are immature will be difficult to change in the next few years, when there are very few teams (like HAGL, SLNA, The Cong Viettel) boldly rejuvenating. Coach Kim Sang-sik can only equip his students with a psychological foundation through training and motivating their spirit. Mr. Kim once said that he wanted to become a "tiger" to be more fierce and decisive, making his students fear him more. Korean coaches always pay great attention to training the spirit and imparting fighting spirit, and Mr. Park's success or Coach Kim's favorable start is a guarantee.

In order to avoid making the same mistake as 2 years ago, U.22 Vietnam must be more resilient. This is a difficult task for coach Kim Sang-sik. But perhaps, it must be difficult to be worth trying!

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/diem-yeu-tung-khien-u22-viet-nam-vo-mong-ong-kim-dung-sai-nhu-nguoi-tien-nhiem-185250216213314709.htm