Coach Kim Sang-sik is too unpredictable, can Mr. Ishii read it?

Coach Kim Sang-sik is not afraid of change

At the 2024 AFF Cup, coach Kim Sang-sik used 25 out of 26 players from the Vietnam Team. The only person who has not played yet is goalkeeper number 3 Tran Trung Kien. All remaining players have enough playing time to assert themselves. No one can only enter the field in the last few minutes.

The Vietnamese team also played 6 matches at the tournament and in no match did coach Kim Sang-sik change less than 4 positions in the starting lineup. The total number of changes in starting personnel (comparing the next match with the previous match) of the Korean strategist is up to 30 times.

The audience may be surprised by the continuous changes that coach Kim Sang-sik is creating. But if we follow the Vietnamese team from the beginning of the “reign” of the former captain of Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors Club, we will no longer have that feeling. Mr. Kim is a coach who has a habit of changing personnel. For example, in 3 friendly matches against Russia, Thailand (September) and India (October), his favorite central defenders were Que Ngoc Hai – Nguyen Thanh Chung – Nguyen Thanh Binh but at the AFF Cup 2024 , only players from Hanoi Club remained.

“Safe zones” and “forbidden zones” also do not exist under coach Kim Sang-sik. Even heroes like Que Ngoc Hai and Do Hung Dung did not receive any exceptions. And there is no such thing as a player automatically being given the starting role just because he is experienced and famous. Quang Hai, Hoang Duc, Tien Linh… still have matches to reserve. This creates motivation and a positive competitive environment in the Vietnamese team.

Coach Kim Sang-sik’s impression

There will be many mixed opinions about coach Kim Sang-sik not being able to help the Vietnamese team have a clear, beautiful playing style. And not all of this strategist’s decisions are correct, but at least he dares to change, dare to adjust and react flexibly to what happens on the field.

In terms of personnel, the use of Bui Tien Dung and Pham Xuan Manh next to Thanh Chung is correct. All three of these players are playing solidly, helping the Vietnamese team have the best defense in the tournament. Among them, Bui Tien Dung impressed with his excellent passing ability. The midfielder of Viettel The Cong Club had 1 assist and many passes to create opportunities for his teammates right from the home field.

Above, players who do not have much experience playing for the Vietnamese team such as Doan Ngoc Tan, Bui Vi Hao, and Nguyen Hai Long all performed at an okay level or better. They all scored goals and contributed a lot to the team’s overall play thanks to their ability to move without the ball diligently.

Coach Kim Sang-sik also had some unsuccessful experiments, such as placing Quang Hai in the central midfield pairing with Hoang Duc in the semi-final first leg against Singapore. With two midfielders with a technical playing style, the Vietnamese team almost failed to take the initiative on the Jalan Besar field. But after that, Mr. Kim knew how to correct mistakes. He sent Ngoc Tan onto the field and the game gradually changed positively and in the end, the Vietnamese team scored 2 goals in extra time.

Previously, in the first half of the match against Laos, we used many long balls to exploit the weakness of the opponent’s slow reaction. And as soon as this plan did not work, coach Kim Sang-sik sent a series of key players onto the field and let the Vietnamese team play more short ball, and we continued to score goals.

Except for the semi-final second leg, the Vietnamese team mainly scored goals after coach Kim made changes to tactics and personnel. If “Golden Star Warriors” can do this 1 or 2 times, we can call it luck. However, this keeps repeating and this means that Mr. Kim really reads the game very well.

Facing a tough opponent like Thailand, coach Kim Sang-sik needs to continue to make unexpected “moves” to keep Masatada Ishii from reacting in time. However, the captain of the Thai team is not a “dreamer”. Let’s wait and see whether the Japanese military leader can “read” his Korean colleague or not!