The Vietnamese national team will have their last friendly match against Myanmar on July 18 before entering the ASEAN Cup 2026. At the pre-match press conference, coach Kim Sang-sik said that the most important goal is to complete the preparation and help his students reach their peak performance before the tournament.
After 4 weeks of training, including 2 weeks of training in Korea, the Korean strategist assessed that the team has had careful preparation in terms of tactics, fitness and psychology.
Before the ASEAN Cup, we had 4 weeks of preparation, including 2 weeks of training in Korea. The friendly match with Myanmar is an opportunity for the players to show what they have practiced and aim for the peak of their best form when entering the official tournament," Mr. Kim shared.
Speaking about the 3-4-3 formation, coach Kim Sang-sik said that the coaching staff is still looking for suitable attacking combinations for each match instead of closing a fixed trio. According to him, the appearance of naturalized striker Tai Loc helps the team have more options in attack, besides experienced names such as Nguyen Quang Hai, Nguyen Hoang Duc, Nguyen Xuan Son.
The team currently has many quality attacking players. We are finding the best combination for each match to achieve the expected results," he said.
Assessing the match against Myanmar, Mr. Kim sees this as the final test to verify what the whole team has accumulated throughout the preparation process.
What I want most is for the players not to get injured. We will verify the contents of tactics, fitness as well as the team's operation to have the best preparation for the tournament," he emphasized.
Although the Vietnamese team once won against Myanmar 5-0 in the most recent meeting two years ago, the Korean coach believes that this team has made many changes when they just appointed a new coach.
Two years ago we won 5-0, that was also Xuan Son's first match. However, Myanmar has now changed coaches. He has proven his ability in the K.League, so I believe they will have good preparation and play with high determination," he assessed.
Before the question about the opportunity to defend the ASEAN Cup 2026 championship, Mr. Kim said he has not thought about opponents like Thailand or Indonesia.
The immediate goal is to get through the group stage, then consider the next opponents. The important thing is what we show on the field to create good results," he affirmed.
Coach Kim Sang-sik also expressed his impression of the affection of Thai Nguyen fans in the first time the team played here and hoped that his students would score many goals to respond to the cheers of the audience.
Regarding the force, he confirmed that Khuat Van Khang, Do Duy Manh and Ngoc Bao are injured, while Gia Bao has joined the team. However, the Korean strategist emphasized that the Vietnamese team does not depend on any individual but always plays with team spirit, aiming for the best results at ASEAN Cup 2026.
