Coach Kim Sang-sik is looking forward to the return of V-League, for a series of special reasons...

There are problems that coach Kim Sang-sik has not been able to solve for the Vietnam U.23 team in the recent 2026 AFC U.23 Championship qualifiers, which will be solved in the coming days, thanks to the V-League.

The fitness and form of the U.23 Vietnam players will be improved.

V-League 2025-2026 is about to return after a short break, so that the national team and the U.23 Vietnam team can concentrate. This tournament is expected to help coach Kim Sang-sik solve some of the imperfect problems of the U.23 Vietnam team.

All U.23 Vietnam players are playing in V-League

Photo: Minh Tu

First is the physical issue. In the 2026 AFC U23 Championship finals, coach Kim Sang-sik’s team is expected to face many strong opponents with advantages in terms of physique and physical strength. Therefore, the physical strength of the Vietnamese U23 players needs to be improved.

For example, we had a lot of difficulties against opponents with a strong playing style like U.23 Yemen in the U.23 Asian qualifiers that just ended at Viet Tri Stadium. At times when the West Asian team played close and accelerated, U.23 Vietnam had a lot of difficulties. Coming up, at the U.23 Asian finals, teams like Korea, Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Uzbekistan... are even stronger than U.23 Yemen, so Vietnamese players need to be more resilient.

Domestic experts expect that once the V-League gets hotter in the coming days, Vietnamese players will accumulate better physical strength. Former coach of the Vietnam U.23 team, Mr. Hoang Anh Tuan, said about this: "I think that in the U.23 Asian Cup (taking place in January 2026), the physical strength of Vietnamese players will be better than in the qualifying round. The reason is because the V-League will start to play more. In the next rounds, the physical strength of Vietnam U.23 players will be better, thanks to them reaching the right physical peak that the clubs have prepared for them."

Mr. Kim Sang-sik has answers about personnel issues

In addition to the physical issue, the upcoming rounds of the V-League will help improve the players' performance. The more intense the domestic matches are, the more the experience, courage and performance of the domestic players will be improved. For example, the strikers of the U.23 Vietnam team did not perform well in the recent U.23 Asian qualifiers, but if they play regularly in the upcoming rounds of the V-League, they will have a better feeling for the ball and a better feeling for scoring goals.

The fitness and form of Vietnam U.23 players will increase when V-League returns.

Photo: Minh Tu

In addition, through the upcoming rounds of the domestic tournament, coach Kim Sang-sik will have the opportunity to better observe the promising faces in the 23-year-old group. The domestic tournament is always the best place to discover talents. If coach Kim Sang-sik has more time to examine the quality of very young but very potential players such as central defender Dinh Quang Kiet (18 years old), midfielder Tran Thanh Trung (20 years old), or striker Nguyen Dang Duong (20 years old), the Korean coach will have a more accurate answer about whether to give these players the opportunity to wear the U.23 Vietnam team jersey or not.

Those are also the reasons that will help the Vietnam U.23 team, in theory, become stronger at the U.23 Asian Cup in January next year (as well as at the 32nd SEA Games in December this year), because the V-League is preparing to help coach Kim Sang-sik solve a series of different problems, which he did not have enough time to solve thoroughly before.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/hlv-kim-sang-sik-mong-ngong-v-league-tai-xuat-vi-mot-loat-ly-do-dac-biet-nay-185250911185001644.htm