Coach Hoang Van Phuc: 'Waiting for a new breath of life in the Vietnam National Team'

Coach Hoang Van Phuc said that, although it is a friendly match, it is very important and necessary for the Vietnam National Team: "We see that Russia and Thailand are high-quality opponents for Coach Kim Sang-sik to review and evaluate their strength in order to aim for the most important goal of the year: ASEAN Cup 2024. This is the tournament that the Vietnam National Team sets the goal of reaching the final, even winning the championship, to regain the position of the country's football when it has been facing "low notes" for quite a while recently.

Breathing new life into the team and regaining confidence is what the Vietnamese team needs to do at the moment to be able to have the most confident mindset when entering the ASEAN Cup campaign at the end of the year. Looking back at the first days of Coach Kim Sang-sik's coaching, it can be seen that the Vietnamese team has operated a simple, adaptive style of play, putting efficiency above all else.

Coach Kim Sang-sik still maintains the 3-4-3 formation and chooses many players that coach Park Hang-seo used before. However, unlike coach Park Hang-seo who prioritized freedom for players when controlling the ball, coach Kim Sang-sik focuses on the structure of the formation and clear goals for each line and each player on the field."

There have been positive aspects seen like that, but through the two matches in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, it also shows that coach Kim Sang-sik still has a lot of work to do, to adjust to upgrade the Vietnam Team: "Observation will show that the Vietnam Team organizes a good attacking game, but at times, the Vietnam Team's formation cannot maintain the balance between attack and defense. The high-up midfield supports the attack, creating a fairly large distance from the 3 central defenders. At that time, the opponent escapes the pressing, counterattacks quickly, causing the players in the defense of the Vietnam Team to be hit in the face and overcome".

Looking at the two friendly matches with the Russian and Thai national teams in early September, coach Hoang Van Phuc shared: "In the immediate future, the Vietnamese team will aim for the biggest tournament of the year, the ASEAN Cup 2024. This is a big challenge if coach Kim Sang-sik wants to win the right to play in the final match. Thailand is still very stable, and the rise of Indonesia will pose many problems for the Korean coach. Fans are also expecting coach Kim Sang-sik to create many new features for the Vietnamese team.

Changing players does not necessarily lead to a change in playing style, but can still find something new and different based on old factors. Any playing style and tactics have advantages and limitations, coach Kim Sang-sik probably needs more time to understand more about Vietnamese football.

In the upcoming 2 matches, competing with 2 quality teams, 2 different football schools will give coach Kim Sang-sik the opportunity to test his players and build his squad. From here, the strengths and weaknesses of the Vietnam team will be recognized and analyzed to prepare for the ASEAN Cup 2024.

We hope that in the coming time, coach Kim Sang-sik will build a strong Vietnam team, playing a more proactive, faster, and more effective football. There will still be a sense of discipline and tight tactical organization like the Korean football style, but there will also be new updates in the way of deploying and operating the gameplay.

There, the key in playing style is knowing yourself and knowing your enemy. Let's wait for coach Kim Sang-sik to upgrade the Vietnam team into a new version: more modern, more proactive and more effective"./.