Can't rely on just Mr. Kim

Ambition of Vietnam team

The 2024 AFF Cup championship of the Vietnamese team comes from many factors: improved fighting spirit, coach Kim Sang-sik's flexible use of players and reasonable tactics, or the brilliance of rookie Nguyen Xuan Son.

However, the core of Mr. Kim and his team's success still comes from improving physical fitness, which is the key to opening the door to any tactical system. To put it simply, when players are stronger and more resilient, they can play defensive counter-attacks or control the ball. But if they are not resilient enough, it is difficult to avoid problems when implementing any philosophy.

Coach Kim Sang-sik and the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) have planned a 10-day training trip in Korea and this is an important turning point for the Vietnamese team.

The Vietnamese team (red shirts) is faster and stronger.

During the 10 days in the land of kimchi, the players were trained in physical strength, endurance, impact and speed exercises according to Korean standards. According to the team, the players' parameters through each exercise were meticulously recorded by the coaching staff. The progress of the students was acknowledged by coach Kim Sang-sik himself to Thanh Nien Newspaper: "The difference between Vietnamese and Korean players is not much. If anything, Vietnamese players still have hidden strengths that can be revealed."

Realizing that his players' physical strength had improved, coach Kim Sang-sik boldly applied a strategy that focused on playing solidly, wearing down the opponent's strength in the first half, before unleashing his finishing moves in the second half. The Vietnamese team could not have scored goals in the 90+14 or 90+19 minutes if they had maintained their previous "weak" physical strength.

However, improving the team's physical fitness is just the tip of the iceberg. With the typical focus of 5-6 sessions per year (each session lasting about 10-15 days), the players' working time with coach Kim is much less than at the club level. Therefore, physical training needs to be conducted properly from the club.

The good news is that more and more football teams are raising awareness of physical training, such as Binh Duong Club, Hanoi Club or Hanoi Police Club (CAHN Club) who are willing to hire foreign fitness coaches. At Binh Duong team, when coach Hoang Anh Tuan was still in charge, he, along with technical director Jurgen Gede and fitness coach, analyzed players' health parameters through the GPS system.

Good physical strength helps the whole team play persistently and resiliently until the last minute.

Also using data for training is HAGL, with technical director Vu Tien Thanh and coach Le Quang Trai. The mountain town team plans to open a sports science department to apply data and statistics more thoroughly in training.

The road is long

However, Vietnamese football still has a long way to go to reach the international level. The proof is that many Vietnamese players who have gone abroad to Korea, Japan or Europe have "run out of steam" because they cannot keep up with the physical strength and training methods of more advanced football countries.

In 2019, a foreign expert who had been to Vietnam shared with Thanh Nien Newspaper: "Players need to practice more, both on the field and in the gym. The volume of 2-3 training sessions at V-League teams combined is equal to 1 training session in Europe. Training sessions also need to be more intense, faster and stronger for players to progress."

How effective is heavy and proper training? Look at Thanh Hoa Club. When he first took over the team in 2023, Coach Velizar Popov brought his students a dizzying training intensity. Many players were exhausted because they couldn't keep up with the harsh methods, but Coach Popov promised: if the training plan was not effective, he would leave. And then, Thanh Hoa Club won 3 cups in 2 years, becoming the most enthusiastic and toughest team in Vietnam at the moment.

Coach Popov improves Thanh Hoa players' physical fitness

In addition, to improve the players' physical strength, V-League needs to increase the time the ball rolls. Currently, the ball only rolls for about 50 - 55 minutes/match, which is less than 2/3 of the duration. Many matches are torn apart by fouls, time-wasting on the field... which not only takes away the entertainment value but also causes the players to lose physical strength due to too little running time.

Coach Park Hang-seo once mentioned: "I want the players to improve their physical fitness. Very few players can run 10 km/match while this is the average level of players. I have to push the players to run 1-2 km more. And high intensity running too."

A first-class coach said: "If you want players to develop, you need to increase the amount of time the ball is rolling in every match." That is also the reality that coach Kim Sang-sik wants. When the quality of matches increases, players will improve on their own. Vietnamese football needs to improve from the root, instead of leaving it up to Mr. Kim to solve all the problems.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/muon-doi-tuyen-viet-nam-khoe-hon-khong-the-trong-cho-moi-thay-kim-185250117133940988.htm