A difficult battlefield
My Dinh Stadium once witnessed the Vietnamese team win the ASEAN Cup (formerly AFF Cup) 2 times in history. But besides the wonderful moments of 2008 and 2018, this stadium is also a place where the "Golden Star Warriors" had to go through many bitter defeats throughout more than 2 decades.
Philippe Troussier, Kim Sang Sik - the two most recent coaches leading the Vietnamese national team, seem to have no fate with My Dinh Stadium.
Mr. Troussier's sad farewell day took place right at this stadium. The humiliating 0-3 defeat to Indonesia in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers forced the French strategist to leave the "hot seat". On the way to the dressing room, he had to endure criticism from thousands of Vietnamese fans after a series of forgettable results.
Coach Kim Sang Sik succeeded Mr. Troussier's position. But at the beginning of his debut, the Korean coach also suffered defeat right at the My Dinh Stadium.
In addition to the hard-fought and unconvincing victory over the Philippines on the day of the debut of the Vietnamese team in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, in two international friendly matches in October 2024 at My Dinh Stadium, Vietnam lost 1-2 to Thailand and 0-3 to Russia respectively.
Witnessing the underperformance of coach Kim Sang-sik's team, at that time, no one believed that the "Golden Star Warriors" could win the ASEAN Cup at the end of the year.
Speaking of the Southeast Asian tournament 2 years ago, My Dinh Stadium also cost the media a lot of ink. The Vietnam Football Federation or the national team also had to change plans compared to the initial ones.
Organizing a music event close to the ASEAN Cup 2024 schedule makes My Dinh Stadium not meet the standards to serve the competition. At the last minute, VFF decided to choose Viet Tri Stadium - a stadium with a smaller capacity - as a place to welcome regional opponents.
Once upon a time", this brings good luck to coach Kim Sang-sik with an unbeaten streak in the group stage and semi-finals, before winning the Southeast championship.
Or recently, the ticket to the 2027 Asian Cup finals that Quang Hai and his teammates won also thanks to a victory against Malaysia at Thien Truong (Ninh Binh).
Proof of value
My Dinh Stadium, after a period of renovation and upgrading of infrastructure, will welcome the Vietnamese team back at the ASEAN Cup 2026. Of course, with the contrasting statistics mentioned above, this is a not small challenge for coach Kim Sang-sik alone. Anyway, this is also an opportunity for him to show that he is capable enough to overcome the unpleasant results of the past.
Unlike 2 years ago, the Korean strategist has understood Vietnamese football better. He also does not have to take over a team built by his predecessor. Instead, the current players are personally monitored, nurtured and cultivated by Mr. Kim and his colleagues. In addition, this is the time when the Vietnamese team gathers the strongest resources in history.
Besides experienced domestic players such as Quang Hai, Hoang Duc, Van Lam, the team also has the participation of young talents who soon reached their prime such as Dinh Bac, Trung Kien, Van Khang, Nhat Minh, Ngoc My.
In addition, overseas Vietnamese and naturalized players such as Hoang Hen, Tai Loc, Le Giang Patrik create more diversity, expand internal competitiveness and upgrade the quality of the squad for the national team.
From progressive successes from Southeast Asian to Asian tournaments, plus the squad foundation being strengthened over time, coach Kim Sang-sik and the Vietnamese team can confidently reappear at My Dinh Stadium - where they were not successful when starting together.
