Objective and subjective
Before the match against Thailand at the LPBank Cup 2024 on the evening of September 10, coach Kim Sang-sik declared that the Vietnamese team was “determined to win”. The reality of the match at My Dinh Stadium showed that, in the words of social media, “there is determination but not much”.
Please list the objective conditions that could affect the Vietnamese team? The effects of the storm circulation made the team not have time to practice on the field, the match between Russia and Thailand was not held so that they could study and analyze the opponent, the weather and field conditions were not perfect, the fans did not fill the stands of My Dinh Stadium, so the mental motivation was not at its best, the players were not in the best condition when the domestic football season had not started yet...
All objective reasons are correct and have a certain impact on the team. What about the subjective reason? Compared to the match against Russia, the Korean coach only kept Van Truong as a young player in the starting lineup (center back Thanh Binh is also young but he is already an important member of the team), surrounded by experienced seniors.
But what was the team’s performance in the first half? There was the opening goal in the 22nd minute of the match, but even so, from the start, it was not the performance of a team determined to win. As the 47-year-old coach said after the match, the tactical formation he used was an attacking 3-4-3, but the way it worked was more like a 3-4-2-1 for counter-attacks.
And it is worth mentioning that, facing the Thai team but not really the Thai team, when coach Ishii Masatada put on the field quite a lot of young players, in the decisions to change personnel, the Japanese coach also mixed youth and experience.
Although they are young, it must be seen that the Thai players play maturely, confidently, and have very good individual skills in bad field and weather conditions. But because they are young, experts and Vietnamese fans expect the home team to perform more positively than their somewhat reserved approach. Without applying high pressure, the highest player of the Vietnamese team, Tien Linh, always sticks close to the center circle.
Perhaps, mentality is also an important factor that makes the Vietnamese team not perform well enough, even when coach Kim Sang-sik brought in Hoang Duc, Van Thanh, Tuan Hai, or Vi Hao - a young player who performed well when entering the field in the match against the Russian team.
Add an apology
The habit of the media, experts, commentators and social networks is to give excessive praise right after a good performance in a match. Then, the result is also familiar for more than a year now - disappointment.
Thailand’s young players are proof that, in order to develop and have continuity, football must have a system from the training stage. As a result, even players who are new to the national team for the first time such as William Weidersjo, Korawich Tasa, or even naturalized players like Patrik Gustavsson - the player who scored the decisive goal, play well, confidently, and even have a certain eccentricity.
Coach Kim Sang-sik apologized for not being able to win. Fans are used to this. Perhaps, there will not be much criticism aimed at him yet, but it is not too early to talk about the pressure starting to grow like Philippe Troussier, his predecessor even won 3 out of the first 4 matches leading the Vietnamese team.
Mr. Kim also pointed out - or to be exact, understood - the problem of Vietnamese players is their physique and physical strength. So, the question is, after the apology for not winning, is there any way he can change the players' physical strength? What can the players themselves do to improve their physical strength?
