How is U.23 Vietnam improving under Mr. Kim?

On the journey to the final of the U.23 Southeast Asian tournament, coach Kim Sang-sik used 3 different formations to help U.23 Vietnam gradually perfect their playing style.

Xuan Bac (12) from the bench took the starting position of Thai Son.

Photo: Dong Nguyen Khang

Coach Kim Sang-sik's mark on U.23 Vietnam

In his first time directly leading the Vietnam U.23 team, Coach Kim Sang-sik quickly left his mark with his interesting way of managing and using people. Under his leadership, the team won all 3 matches with 3 different lineups.

In the opening match against U.23 Cambodia, coach Kim Sang-sik used a midfield lineup with Thanh Son as the lowest anchor in a 3-5-2 formation, with Van Khang and Van Truong playing as central midfielders while Dinh Bac played with Quoc Viet in attack.

Coach Kim Sang-sik gives U.23 Vietnam a mission: 'Bring the cup home'

This was the match where Thai Son - who was expected to shine - showed poor form, passed the ball slowly and made many mistakes, greatly affecting the speed of the U.23 Vietnam team. He was replaced in the second half, opening the field for Xuan Bac to appear.

Meanwhile, Quoc Viet played hard but still lacked a bit of the right rhythm, while Dinh Bac was trying to regain his best feeling after spending several months racing against time to recover from injury.

Cong Phuong played impressively in the semi-finals after playing the second half of the first match against U.23 Laos.

Photo: Dong Nguyen Khang

After the 3-0 victory over U.23 Laos, Mr. Kim immediately decided to leave Thai Son and Quoc Viet on the bench, giving the opportunity to new player Xuan Bac in midfield and Le Viktor to pair with Quoc Viet in attack when Dinh Bac had a slight injury.

A narrow 2-1 win on a day when we missed a lot of chances brought mixed emotions to the fans. However, Mr. Kim can be satisfied with creating a balance in attack between Phi Hoang on the left wing and especially Anh Quan on the right wing.

The appearance of someone who has the ability to escape pressing and pass the ball upfield very well like Xuan Bac helps Anh Quan have favorable opportunities to receive the ball, to help the right wing develop its diverse ability to penetrate the flank.

In the semi-final match, the U.23 Vietnam team surprised the U.23 Philippines when the young talent Cong Phuong was unexpectedly selected to start instead of Quoc Viet. In fact, this 19-year-old player (born in 2006) played very confidently, maturely and effectively supported Dinh Bac.

Step by step improvement

Coach Kim Sang-sik is leaving a strong impression in his first time leading the Vietnam U.23 team.

Photo: Dong Nguyen Khang

It can be seen through each match that coach Kim Sang-sik has grasped quite well the strengths and weaknesses of the U.23 Vietnam team, decisively making accurate decisions on using players, helping the team become more and more perfect, effective and varied through each match.

In fact, in the initial calculations, the U.23 Vietnam team aimed to "plan" to play with the striker pair Dinh Bac - Thanh Nhan, who have had many opportunities to play for the Vietnam team.

But Thanh Nhan's unexpected last-minute shirt-flipping injury forced Mr. Kim to change his approach, boldly launching a series of experiments with Quoc Viet, Le Viktor and Cong Phuong playing alongside Dinh Bac.

Coach Kim Sang-sik's flexible transformation will make it difficult to predict the starting lineup of the U.23 Vietnam team in the final match against U.23 Indonesia at 8:00 p.m. on July 29, especially the question of who will play alongside Dinh Bac in attack.

Anh Quan is playing clearly well on the right wing.

Photo: Dong Nguyen Khang

But at least we can rest assured that coach Kim Sang-sik has done his best to prepare, as most of the players have been put on the field. Specifically, after 3 matches, the U.23 Vietnam team has used a total of 20/23 players registered for the 2025 Southeast Asian U.23 tournament.

There are only a few faces that have not played yet, including goalkeeper Cao Van Binh, defender Nguyen Duc Anh, Nguyen Tan. That is an impressive number when new factors such as Ngoc My, Xuan Bac or very young like Cong Phuong were all given the opportunity to play in the second half of the first match.

Obviously, Coach Kim Sang-sik is taking very methodical and effective steps in his first time leading the Vietnam U.23 team in the 2025 Southeast Asian U.23 tournament - an extremely important stepping stone before entering the qualifying round of the Asian U.23 tournament next September.

Further, Mr. Kim's main front will be the 33rd SEA Games in December in Thailand and the 2026 AFC U-23 Championship taking place from January 7-25 in Saudi Arabia, where we will be able to have important additions when Thanh Nhan, Vi Hao... recover from injury.

Highlight U.23 Indonesia - U.23 Thailand: Unbelievable penalty shootout, host enters final to meet Vietnam

Watch the full 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Football Championship Mandiri Cup™ live onFPT Play, visit http://fptplay.vn

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/u23-viet-nam-dang-hoan-thien-nhu-the-nao-duoi-tay-ong-kim-185250727113418051.htm