Coach Kim Sang-sik, who made the Vietnamese national soccer team the champion of Southeast Asia, is showing a completely different appearance from the Jeonbuk Hyundai era.
Kim Sang-sik, head coach of the Vietnamese national soccer team, held a press conference to commemorate the victory of the "2024 Mitsubishi Cup ASEAN Football Federation Football Championship (AFF Cup) through video conference on the 7th.
Coach Kim, who took the helm of Vietnam in May last year, led Vietnam to the top in seven years by winning the AFF Cup without a loss. Vietnam avenged its 2022 tournament final defeat by winning the final against Thailand, and achieved its third career championship.
Introducing himself as "the No. 1 coach in the K-League, the No. 1 coach in Southeast Asia," Kim said, "I feel like I wrote a drama. I was embarrassed because situations I had never experienced at every moment unfolded. The second and second lost points in the second match against Thailand were memorable. I lost points in the non-manner scene, and I think that was the driving force behind my victory."
In fact, not many people expected Kim to show good performance in Vietnam. It is because of his career in Jeonbuk. After winning two K-League 1 championships, Kim retired from active duty in 2013 and became a leader in Jeonbuk, a team he is close to.
He was the playing coach in 2013, and served as the field coach for five years from 2014. He was promoted to head coach while assisting coach Jose Moraes from the 2019 season, and sat down as the Jeonbuk head coach after Moraes left in the 2021 season.
However, Kim was strongly criticized by Jeonbuk fans. Kim won the K League 1 championship in the 2021 season and the FA Cup in the 2022 season (currently the Korea Cup), and lifted the trophy for two consecutive years, but ended up in a slump with three wins, one draw and six losses in the 2023 season.
At that time, Jeonbuk fans came to the stadium and shouted, "Kim Sang-sik, get out!" Whenever Kim had time, he was busy apologizing to the Jeonbuk fans with his loudspeaker. He was also hit with bus-blocking several times and even went overboard, mentioning his family.
Eventually, Kim resigned as coach of Jeonbuk. After a break, Kim took the helm of Vietnam in May last year, and transformed the team into the strongest team in Southeast Asia in just seven months. Kim is being treated like Park Hang-seo, who was nicknamed "Saldink."
Kim was able to show such good performance thanks to his "challenge" and "efforts." Kim was under a lot of pressure as he became the second Korean coach in Vietnam after Park, but he overcame the pressure. "Coach Kim must continue to challenge."
It was also backed by thorough analysis and efforts. After thoroughly analyzing Park's success and Philippe Truscier's failures, Kim made changes in the selection of players for Vietnam and the appointment of players, and applied his philosophy to the Vietnamese national team. He even visited the stadium and observed the players in person.
"Based on Park's success and Truscier's failure, we analyzed the reasons for his success and failure. We consistently pursued selection, appointment, and tactical areas," Kim said at the press conference. "We thought about how to develop our habits by selling our products based on the players' conditions, tactics and performance."
Through analysis and efforts, Kim's team has completely changed. Vietnam is now looking for a higher goal. Kim set his new goal to advance to the 2027 Asian Cup finals and the 2026 토토사이트 FIFA World Cup finals in North Korea and China.
Kim still misses Jeonbuk. "I also miss the sound of Jeonbuk fans telling me to leave once in a while. Despite many wins at Jeonbuk, I have been called a fool. Jeonbuk has been criticized for having to win the championship every year, but it has shown that it is still alive," he said.