MIN SUCCESS COURSE
The Vietnamese team’s 3-2 victory over Thailand in the final leg of the AFF Cup 2024 will be remembered for a long time, because of countless emotions, and the resilient image of coach Kim Sang-sik and his team against the wind. But, this match has another layer of meaning. What happened at Rajamangala Stadium on the evening of January 5 seems to summarize what the Vietnamese team has experienced in the past two years. It was extremely difficult, under intense pressure, but Quang Hai and his teammates were like a compressed spring, released at the right time thanks to persistent efforts.
After the AFF Cup 2024, the Vietnamese team will aim for the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers
The Vietnamese team has entered the AFF Cup 2024 with skepticism. A year of crisis under coach Philippe Troussier (losing 7 consecutive matches), followed by difficulties when Mr. Kim Sang-sik took power in the early stages, put the national team in a crisis of strength and power. faith. The players were said to be so full of glory that they no longer wanted to try.
Mr. Kim at the Prime Minister’s meeting with the Vietnamese team on January 6
A notable detail, the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) once had to consider when assigning the goal of reaching the 2024 AFF Cup final to Mr. Kim, because when confidence had hit bottom, even the task of reaching the final match Being on the Southeast Asian playground is also not easy to achieve.
However, teacher Kim and his students were not discouraged. Step by step, the Korean coach built his way to glory with his own style: eliminating players who lacked physical strength and motivation, prioritizing “unknown” faces who never stopped trying. Mr. Kim Sang-sik clearly understands that the Vietnamese team cannot play with a specific philosophical color. So instead of forcing his students into a framework, coach Kim Sang-sik simply improves his physical strength and fighting ability, while creating flexible fighting strategies and effectively adapting to the match situation.
Mr. Kim’s achievement is that the Vietnamese team is like a crystal with scratches, but still sparkling with its inner strength. Not perfect yet, but always trying to be better every day.
SAUAFF Cup WHAT ?
“The 2024 AFF Cup championship is just the beginning of the exciting journey that the Vietnamese team and I will go through,” coach Kim Sang-sik emphasized at the press conference after the final.
After the AFF Cup 2024, the Vietnamese team will aim for the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers. Mr. Kim and his team are in the same group as Malaysia, Laos and Nepal. The goal is only one: to lead the group to win tickets to the Asian Finals. This is the task at hand, when the Vietnamese team has awakened after 2 years of losing its way.
Glory opens a bright future for Vietnamese football
However, the Vietnamese team needs to aim for the bigger picture, which is to build forces for the 2030 World Cup qualifiers. The Vietnamese team won the AFF Cup 2024 thanks to perfectly molding a group of experienced players and new recruits. rich in aspirations with naturalized striker Xuan Son. But to win tickets to the world stage, coach Kim Sang-sik needs better resources, to inherit positions that older seniors may not hold after 2 or 3 years. However, the signal from the youth is not clear, when among the U.23 players, only Vi Hao is the main player in the 2024 AFF Cup. The veterans will gradually recede, but if the juniors are still lackluster As it is now, the transition of the Vietnamese team’s forces is still very difficult.
This does not depend on coach Kim Sang-sik alone. Mr. Kim “prepared food and fish sauce” and improvised well with limited forces at all 3 lines. But with the current people, the Vietnamese team can only assert itself in Southeast Asia. The championship has brought back the fans’ confidence, but to maintain this fire of excitement, a trophy is not enough. Today’s success will be like a castle on the sand and the 2030 World Cup is still very far from reach, if the Vietnamese team does not truly breakthrough thinking.
Coach Kim Sang-sik joked that “will still eat pho in Vietnam for a long time”, implying a commitment to the future with Vietnamese football. That is a necessary commitment, when the Vietnamese team has found a good teacher to inherit the spiritual and disciplinary foundation left by coach Park Hang-seo, and for coach Kim Sang-sik, this is also the place for him. new level in career.
A brilliant cycle will open, if both sides share a long-term vision. In order not to be left alone when entering the big Asian sea, Vietnamese football needs a better foundation. It’s still the old story about training young people, developing domestic leagues, upgrading the quality of clubs and stadiums, or more deeply, making money from football (instead of passively waiting for the budget or “milking” businesses). career). The Vietnamese team has won the championship, but we still lack a lot. Keeping the mindset of winning without being arrogant, losing without being discouraged, Coach Kim Sang-sik and his team will not be lulled into glory.
