After the friendly match between the Vietnamese team and Ulsan Citizen Club during their training trip to Korea, coach Kim Sang-sik assessed that Vietnamese football has “many good players” but sometimes “cannot win as a team”. The Korean coach emphasized the two weaknesses of Vietnamese players: “physicality” and “the ability to control and create a balance between attack and defense”.
It sounds simple, but in fact, these are two "fatal" problems for Vietnamese football for many years. Vietnamese football has developed, and current players have improved both professionally and physically compared to previous generations, but they are not at the expected level. The story of physical training and endurance in Vietnamese football has been mentioned many times, but the methods, means, and supporting technology tools applied have not shown any remarkable changes.
Of course, it is not just about exercise that improves physical strength. Because other factors are also important, even more important, such as nutrition and discipline in training, but are less focused on.
Without stamina, a match forces the coach to adjust personnel and tactics early. That contributes to the ability to control the game being affected. Although coach Park Hang-seo's time in charge was considered successful, has anyone confirmed that it was a controlling style of play? In many matches, despite superior ball control, the attacking efficiency was not high.
Because the style of play that coach Park Hang-seo applied was defensive - counter-attack, which is also a way of control, but heavily passive. At this time, Mr. Kim Sang-sik realized that - what his predecessor Philippe Troussier wanted to build - a proactive control style of play, but was not successful.
It is not successful because the current Vietnamese players do not meet that standard. He gave the example of "putting 11 Lionel Messis in the squad, there is still a high chance of losing", because no matter how talented or outstanding, the collective factor in football is important. The Vietnamese team cannot truly unite, which is a problem when the ego in each player has not been pushed to the back.
Other top stars are normal in that, after a certain problem, they learn their lesson and change. A team, which may not be the top, can still qualify for the World Cup thanks to their physicality and cohesion...
