Coach Kim Sang-sik once made a big mistake and almost paid a very high price, so U.22 Vietnam had to...

The quality of the wingers is not as good as in SEA Games 30 and 31, when Vietnam won the championship.

At the 30th SEA Games in 2019 and the 31st SEA Games in 2022, Vietnamese football had some very good full-backs including Doan Van Hau, Ho Tan Tai (SEA Games 30) and Phan Tuan Tai (SEA Games 31). These are the players who contributed greatly to helping Coach Park Hang-seo's team win the two tournaments mentioned above.

The quality of full-backs at the age of 22 is not as good as Phan Tuan Tai (red shirt) at the same age.

Currently, the young U.22 Vietnam players do not have full-backs at the same level as their seniors Doan Van Hau, Ho Tan Tai and Phan Tuan Tai when they were the same age. This could cause difficulties for coach Kim Sang-sik's 2025 SEA Games 33 campaign.

Ho Van Cuong (22 years old, currently playing for SLNA Club) is considered the most experienced full-back in international competition at the age of 22. However, Ho Van Cuong is not yet considered to be very good, and his cross-ball skills from the sideline cannot be compared to Ho Tan Tai in 2019 or Phan Tuan Tai in 2022.

In the most important and recent international tournament that the Vietnamese youth team participated in, the 2024 U.23 Asian Cup, coach Hoang Anh Tuan of this team also had difficulty in choosing players to play on the two wings. The problem was so difficult that at times coach Hoang Anh Tuan had to send the central defenders to play as full-backs.

Also because at the age of 22, Vietnamese football does not have many promising players playing in the role of full-back, coaches Troussier and Kim Sang-sik arranged Khuat Van Khang to play as a left-back. However, this solution did not bring good results. Khuat Van Khang is good at playing as an attacking midfielder, he lacks the skills of a pure defender, which are the ability to compete one-on-one, the ability to play in a "slanted line" in the back line to catch offside, and he often has very dirty back passes and side passes.

Sifting sand for gold for U.22

Right at the 2024 AFF Cup, coach Kim Sang-sik almost paid the price when he let Khuat Van Khang play left-back. He made a big mistake in the match against the Philippines in the group stage, causing the Vietnamese team to almost lose this match. Since that match, Mr. Kim Sang-sik did not dare to use Khuat Van Khang as left-back anymore. Instead, the Korean coach used defenders Xuan Manh and Tien Anh as left-backs, when Mr. Kim needed someone to "share the fire" with Van Vi, from the knockout round (semi-finals, finals).

Coach Kim Sang-sik must sift through sand to find gold in the coming time.

Therefore, even though Khuat Van Khang is still at the age to participate in the 33rd SEA Games this year, I believe that coach Kim Sang-sik will not repeat his own mistake. It is very likely that the Korean coach will still send Khuat Van Khang to Thailand to participate in the Southeast Asian Games, but Mr. Kim Sang-sik will return Khuat Van Khang to his rightful position as an attacking midfielder, instead of using him as a left-back.

Some faces that can play as full-backs, in the age group of 22, include right-back Nguyen Hong Phuc (22 years old, The Cong Viettel), Ha Chau Phi (22 years old, Thanh Hoa), left-back Nguyen Duc Anh (22 years old, SHB Da Nang), Nguyen Bao Long (20 years old, PVF-CAND), Mai Quoc Tu (20 years old, SHB Da Nang)...

However, these players need to be watched more, because not all of them have established themselves in the starting lineup at their respective clubs. These defenders need more training to perfect the skills required of wingers.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/hlv-kim-sang-sik-tung-sai-lam-lon-suyt-tra-gia-cuc-dat-nen-u22-viet-nam-phai-185250213144707768.htm