Korean coach leads Vietnam men’s football team to 3rd regional title of 2025

Kim Sang-sik, the Korean-born head coach of the Vietnam males’s nationwide soccer staff, celebrates his staff’s win over Thailand within the closing of the Southeast Asian Video games at Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok, Thursday (native time). Reuters-Yonhap

Korean head coach Kim Sang-sik has led Vietnam to their third males’s regional soccer title of the yr.

Vietnam’s under-23 aspect defeated Thailand 3-2 for the lads’s soccer gold medal on the Southeast Asian Video games (SEA) at Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok on Thursday. After conceding the match’s first two objectives, Vietnam stormed again with three unanswered markers, with Nguyen Thanh Nhan delivering the profitable aim in additional time.

This was Vietnam’s first SEA gold medal since 2021, after they had been coached by one other Korean-born tactician, Park Hold-seo.

Throughout his five-year run with Vietnam, Park was celebrated as a nationwide hero for guiding the nation to huge success. However Kim, who took the reins in Might 2024, pulled off one thing that even Park by no means achieved — profitable three trophies in a single yr.

In January, Kim coached Vietnam’s senior staff to the title on the ASEAN Championship. Six months later, Vietnam gained the ASEAN U-23 title.

Vietnam gamers have a good time after beating Thailand 3-2 for the lads’s soccer gold medal on the Southeast Asian Video games at Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok, Thursday (native time). Reuters-Yonhap

On the SEA Video games, Vietnam beat Laos and Malaysia within the group stage earlier than knocking off the Philippines 2-0 within the semifinals.

Within the closing, Vietnam went down 2-0 within the first half, with the host nation’s Yotsakorn Burapha scoring a free kick aim within the twentieth minute and Thai captain Seksan Ratree doubling their lead 11 minutes later.

Vietnam minimize the lead in half 4 minutes after the restart as skipper Nguyen Dinh Bac transformed the penalty he had earned when tripped up by goalkeeper Sorawat Phosaman within the space.

Vietnam pulled even on the hour mark because of Pham Ly Duc, and it set the stage for Nguyen Thanh Nhan’s extra-time heroics.

In line with the Voice of Vietnam web site, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh supplied his congratulations to the staff, calling the run to the gold medal “a outstanding accomplishment.”