In the middle of this week, two of the biggest shocks in European football occurred with the names Real Madrid and Manchester City in the Champions League. While the Spanish team - the defending champion, lost 1-3 to AC Milan right at home at the Bernabeu, the representative of English football - the champion in 2023, lost 1-4 at Sporting Lisbon.
We know that failure still happens sometimes, but for Los Blancos and The Citizens this period, there is a coincidence with their decline. Injuries to a series of pillars are a problem, but the common point that experts draw is the absence of Toni Kroos and Rodri.
Kroos has left Real Madrid and retired after EURO 2024 with the German national team, Rodri recently received the 2024 Golden Ball with crutches due to a serious knee injury. Many people say that when Real Madrid has Kylian Mbappe, or Man City has coach Pep Guardiola who knows how to steer, their absence is not an obstacle.
However, not only in the recent consecutive losses (2 matches with Real Madrid, 3 matches with Man City), but also in the previous wins, it can be seen that both "Los Blancos" and the reigning English champions have "lost their souls".
Kroos and Rodri are not suited to the spotlight – or rather, they do not like it. They do not like being the “black hole” that attracts all eyes, but the way they play is what shows the soul in the style of play, the way the two clubs play.
Talking about this issue in the Vietnam National Team, the question for coach Kim Sang-sik now is where to find, or how to build, the soul of the team? In fact, not only in the matches under the Korean coach, even when Philippe Troussier was in charge, one could not see the "soul" in the way the team played.
Of course, that was the period when the French coach wanted to build a new style of play, but basically, during this period, Vietnamese men's football lacked a factor whose every action on the field had some meaning to the style of play, even if he was not the brightest star.
The person who transmits "heat", the person who "expresses" the ideas that the coach wants, is the soul even though he does not wear the captain's armband... Vietnamese football needs to find such a factor so that the matches are no longer in a pale, lifeless state...
