Coach Kim Sang-sik and the pressure to not make Coach Park lose his reputation

“When I took the job at the Vietnam national team, I just thought that I couldn’t do anything that would bring shame to coach Park Hang-seo, but now I have achieved results beyond expectations.” Starting from the fear of damaging the reputation of his predecessor, coach Kim Sang-sik has led Vietnamese football to two titles: winning the AFF Cup at the national team level and winning the U23 Southeast Asian Championship with U23 Vietnam, according to his sharing with the Korean press.

Pressure to inherit Park Hang-seo's legacy

Kim Sang-sik admitted that the biggest pressure when accepting to lead the Vietnam national team was not to affect the reputation that Park Hang-seo left behind. The Korean coach's spiritual support lies in redefining success: not comparison, but maintaining the team's competitive standards. He summed up his point of view in the saying: "A coach must aim for results."

From Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors to Vietnam: Spiritual Reconstruction

Before landing in Vietnam, 2023 marked a career change for Kim Sang-sik. After a series of failures with Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors – the team he was with for almost his entire career – this coach left his post amid a storm of criticism, leading to a psychological crisis. He said: “I thought I was hurting them. I couldn’t bear it.”

Vietnam became the place that helped him stand up. In the new environment, he found his self-worth, was loved and appreciated. The very ordinary things like the hot and humid climate, sudden rains gradually became a familiar part of life. “Now that I have localized, I am enjoying a happy life as a coach,” Kim Sang-sik said.

Unity and courage come from experience

Through the collisions in Jeonbuk and his work in Vietnam, Kim Sang-sik turned the antagonism into inner strength. He found emotional harmony between Koreans and Vietnamese, which helped the coach’s message reach the players more clearly. In national football, where the time for assembling is very short, that empathy becomes a “shortcut” to create discipline, belief and competitive spirit.

Two titles and their meaning for the present

Winning the AFF Cup at the national team level and winning the U23 Southeast Asian Championship with U23 Vietnam are milestones that show Kim Sang-sik's team knows how to win in the context of pressure and scrutiny. In the journey to shape its own identity, he does not deny Park Hang-seo's legacy but sets the standard for continuing on the runway of achievements.

SEA Games 33 goals: pressure as motivation

When asked about the goal of winning the gold medal at the 33rd SEA Games with U22 Vietnam, Kim Sang-sik did not avoid it. He recognized that the regional picture is fiercely competitive, with many teams becoming stronger thanks to naturalized players. However, he believes that Vietnam can develop its own strengths to create momentum. As he emphasized: "Achievement is pressure, but it is also the motivation for us to move forward."

Regional Competitive Map and Approach

The remarkable point in Kim Sang-sik’s statement is his frankness about the competitive environment: he defines the boundary between expectations and reality. In the framework of U22, a series of technical and strategic goals must all refer to results. When that standard is established in the national team and U23, it creates a chain effect down to the youth teams: clear roles, clear criteria, clear destination.

Conclusion: not making Coach Park lose his reputation, and more

Starting from the fear of “making Coach Park infamous”, Kim Sang-sik is continuing to write his dream in his own way: being honest with the pressure, cherishing the legacy, and putting the team before all doubts. The two titles he has won are a confirmation of his method; the goal of SEA Games 33 will be the next test for the path he is taking with Vietnamese football.