Vietnam face new test at FIFA ASEAN Cup 2026: Kim Sang-sik and the time puzzle

I have lived through 52 years of watching football, from the broken pitches of Belgrade to the strangely clean press rooms of Tokyo. And I have learned one thing: football never forgives delay. But here, in Vietnam, in September 2026, I am witnessing a team entering the region's biggest tournament with one hand tied behind their back. Let me tell you about September 26. The Vietnam national team will step onto the pitch against the Philippines in their Group B opener at the FIFA ASEAN Cup 2026. But the story does not begin with that match. It begins two weeks earlier, when coach Kim Sang-sik looked at his training camp schedule and realized that theory and reality are two completely different things. In theory, he has about two weeks to work with his squad. In reality, seven of his most important players — Quang Hai, Dinh Bac, Nguyen Filip, Van Hau, Van Do, Thanh Long, Quang Vinh — will have only five or six days in camp before the whole team departs for Indonesia. Five or six days. That is the number I want you to keep in your head as you read on. The whole world praises good defense, I only see a team hiding behind fear. But here, I see a coach trying to build a tactical system with half his brain tied up by club schedules. Look at Cong An Ha Noi's (CAHN) schedule. On September 15, they play in the AFC Champions League Elite against Osaka. On September 20, they have a V-League match against Dong Nai. After that, seven of their players must immediately join the national team. No rest. No recovery time. No time to switch mentality from club colors to national team colors. This is not a tactical problem. This is a structural problem. And it is exposing a systemic weakness I have seen in many other football nations: over-reliance on a single club. CAHN has supplied many of Vietnam's national-team players in recent times. This creates an advantage in familiarity — players know each other, understand each other's movements. But it also creates a bottleneck: when CAHN has a congested schedule, the national team bears the consequences. The original article states that Vietnam still have several technical issues to improve following the ASEAN Cup 2026. This makes me ask: if those issues persist even with full preparation time, what happens when preparation time is cut in half? I have followed Kim Sang-sik since he arrived in Vietnam. He is a systematic coach, favoring possession and organized pressing. But organized pressing requires coordinated timing — and that coordination needs training time. You cannot teach a team to press in sync in five days, especially when seven of your key players have just played a Champions League Elite match and a V-League match within less than a week. Physical conditioning is a separate but equally important issue. CAHN players will arrive at camp with different fitness levels. Some have just played at high intensity in Asia, others may be in recovery phases. Meanwhile, non-CAHN players who have been in camp longer may be at peak fitness. This disparity creates a difficult puzzle for the coaching staff: how to build a physically uniform squad when the pieces arrive at different times? I remember 2026, when I stayed in Osaka following Cerezo Osaka for four months without football. I learned that process matters more than results. And I see in Kim Sang-sik a man who understands that. But even the best coach cannot create miracles when time is compressed to the point of absurdity. The question is: how will Kim adapt? I believe he will have to simplify his tactics. Instead of a complex high-pressing system, he might shift to a more direct, counter-attacking style, relying on the speed of his attacking players. Instead of asking full-backs to push high and join attacks, he might choose defensive solidity. But this is where I want to offer a contrarian view. Maybe I am wrong. Maybe Kim Sang-sik will do the opposite — he will keep his system and accept the risk. Why? Because if he changes his system just because of lack of time, he sends the wrong message to his players: that he does not trust them. And in football, confidence sometimes matters more than tactical perfection. I have seen this happen many times. A team with little preparation time but keeping their playing philosophy, and they succeed because the players feel trusted. Conversely, a team that changes everything at the last minute often falls into chaos. The Philippines is not an easy opponent. They are expected to field their strongest squad. In regional football, no match is easy, especially the opening match. A poor result against the Philippines would create enormous pressure on Kim and his players before they step into subsequent matches. Let me be clear: this is not a test of Kim Sang-sik's competence. He has already proven his competence by winning the previous ASEAN Cup. This is a test of adaptability — the ability to make the right decisions when things do not go according to plan. And that is why I am writing this article. Because top-level football is not a place for perfect plans. It is a place for those who know how to improvise. Kim Sang-sik is entering the most important phase of his coaching career in Vietnam, and he must do it with one hand tied behind his back. I will be watching the September 26 match closely. I want to see how he sets up his team, how he directs from the touchline, and how the players respond to his instructions. Because in those moments, I will see the true nature of a coach — not when everything is going well, but when everything is against him. People ask why, at 68, I still write as if the world is ending. I just laugh. Because football never ends. It only changes shape. And the most interesting stories always come from places no one expects. Remember this: when I was thrown out of the press conference in Tokyo, my question remained on the table. And my question for Kim Sang-sik will also remain there, whether he answers it or not: Will you have the courage to believe in your system when time is against you? Football is the only thing I know where people worship safety as a triumph. But safety never wins championships. Boldness wins championships. And boldness, in this context, means holding firm to your playing style, even with only five days of preparation. I do not know if Vietnam will win the championship. But I know that how Kim Sang-sik handles this situation will define his legacy in Vietnam. And I will be there, with my recording phone in hand, to capture every moment. This article I wrote after being kicked out of a press conference. The inspiration is there. And my inspiration now comes from watching a coach trying to solve a puzzle that no one gave him enough time to solve. Look at history. The greatest teams are not those with the most preparation time. They are those who know how to maximize what they have. And that is exactly what Kim Sang-sik has to do right now. I will end with a question, not an answer. Because in football, the right question always matters more than the easy answer. My question is: When everything is against you, who will you become? A conservative hiding behind fear, or a bold one daring to believe in yourself? Kim Sang-sik will answer that question on September 26. And I will be there to record the answer.