Coach Kim Sang-sik has truly ‘become’ Vietnamese in the hearts of Vietnamese audiences!

Coach Kim Sang-sik proactively integrates Vietnamese culture

In the dressing room after the team won the 2024 AFF Cup, striker Dinh Thanh Binh spontaneously turned on the livestream to share with fans the moments of the third Southeast Asian championship in history. The phone lens then captured the moment when he and coach Kim Sang-sik took a commemorative photo with the AFF Cup championship trophy and a photo of Uncle Ho.

A meaningful image shows that coach Kim Sang-sik integrates very well with football culture and Vietnamese culture. Mr. Kim’s desire and desire to integrate was evident from the early days, when he diligently learned to read each player’s name clearly in Vietnamese on their debut day.

Those small bricks, accumulated through each day of hard work, created a memorable championship today, when the Vietnamese team beat Thailand 3-2 at Rajamangala (final score 5-3) to be crowned. champion AFF Cup 2024.

A victory that delighted the fans of coach Kim Sang-sik and his team, when they made the “War Elephants” lose heart and soul right on Rajamangala’s home field even though they did everything possible, even if it wasn’t pretty.

But coach Kim Sang-sik’s biggest victory is creating the great strength of a unified team. That unity comes from teachers to students, between Vietnamese players and officials, Mr. Kim and his Korean assistant team.

Images from television cameras before the final second leg at Rajamangala Stadium showed coach Kim Sang-sik with his hand on his chest naturally singing the Vietnamese national anthem, because he had done it many times.

A small action but shows a lot. Just like he performed the famous celebratory dance on Rajamangala stadium as promised when he first arrived in Vietnam.

Mr. Kim aroused Vietnamese pride

We won the championship thanks to rediscovering the strong, humble and hungry Vietnamese team. Only with a true team spirit, captain Duy Manh, vice-captain Tien Linh or star Quang Hai, whether starting or being a reserve, are willing and confident in their teammates’ turn to “rotate” on the field.

That is coach Kim Sang-sik’s greatest success, coming from the efforts and fervent petition of the famous Korean football player who is already very rich in finance and reputation, with a collection of K-trophies. Massive League.

But when he arrived in Vietnam, the leader born in 1976 immediately abandoned the aura of a top Korean football star, to actively learn from every possible channel to better understand the unique culture. In Vietnam.

Fortunately for Mr. Kim, the integration process saved a lot of time thanks to the advice of his predecessor Park Hang-seo and his representative Lee Dong-jun, who understands Vietnamese football and people very well. But Mr. Kim is very independent in how to use people as well as apply tactics, with many decisions that are very different from Mr. Park’s style.

As mentioned above, most importantly coach Kim Sang-sik has successfully instilled pride in each player. The awakened fire of desire to contribute has helped create a source of great strength for us to enter the cave to defeat the “War Elephants”, bringing home the meaningful AFF Cup 2024 championship.