Vietnam Team: Who makes coach Kim Sang Sik embarrassed?

Mr. Kim Sang Sik's calculation

Looking at the recent training sessions of the Vietnamese team, it is clear that coach Kim Sang Sik intends to prepare a successor for the goalkeeper position.

Besides experienced names like Nguyen Dinh Trieu and Vietnamese-American goalkeeper Filip Nguyen, the Korean coach continuously "plants" young goalkeepers with great potential from the U23 team or younger like Van Viet, Trung Kien, Quan Van Chuan...

Coach Kim Sang Sik has a long-term plan for the goalkeeper position in the Vietnam national team.

This is a reasonable and visionary strategy. Letting young goalkeepers eat and practice with their seniors in the Vietnam national team is the best way to get used to the pressure, learn experience and mature faster.

However, Mr. Kim has never once risked using them in official matches. Even with highly rated players, the captain of the Vietnam team is still steadfast in his opinion: the goalkeeper position requires stability and experience in the field, which young players lack.

Therefore, in the training session next October, Coach Kim Sang Sik will probably continue to apply this plan. The young goalkeepers will be named again, continuing their role as "strategic reserves" to learn, while the starting position will be a competition between experienced players.

Who made Kim Sang Sik embarrassed?

Coach Kim Sang Sik's plan would have been very smooth if there wasn't a "variable" named Dang Van Lam when the former number 1 goalkeeper of the Vietnamese national team is possessing form and brilliant performance at LPBank V-League 2025/26.

With his current form, Van Lam having a place in the national team is almost a given for any coach. However, the biggest problem lies in the relationship between this goalkeeper and Mr. Kim Sang Sik that has attracted public attention.

It should be remembered that, since Mr. Kim Sang Sik took power, Van Lam seems to have "fallen out of favor". The peak was that he was not named in the list of Vietnam team to win the ASEAN Cup 2024 and was also absent from many important training sessions after that.

But Van Lam's high performance in V-League is making coach Kim Sang Sik feel awkward.

This "indifference" shows that Van Lam may not be suitable for the philosophy or certain requirements of the Korean coach. But ignoring a goalkeeper who is in the best form in V-League is not an easy decision and can create controversy.

Will coach Kim Sang Sik this time put aside his old calculations to give a chance to the player in the best form, or continue to stick with his choice? The answer will reveal a lot about the way the strategist from Korea uses people and manages the dressing room.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/tuyen-viet-nam-ai-khien-hlv-kim-sang-sik-kho-xu-2445826.html