Vietnam team 'tested' in Korea

The Vietnamese team will face Ulsan Citizen in a friendly match during their training trip to Korea. The match will take place at 8:30 a.m. Vietnam time (10:30 a.m. local time) on November 27, marking the first test of coach Kim Sang-sik and his team in the land of kimchi.

Compared to Daegu or Jeonbuk (Kim Sang-sik's former team as both player and head coach), Ulsan Citizen is inferior in class.

This team ranked 12th out of 16 teams in K-League 3 last season, with only 34 points after 30 rounds. Ulsan Citizen was only established in 2018 and has been operating for 6 years, competing in K-League 3 or K-League 4, which is close to semi-professional.

Because they play in K-League 3, information about Ulsan Citizen such as professional quality and squad value is relatively limited. In the last 9 matches, Ulsan Citizen has only won 1, but suffered 6 defeats. Therefore, this is an opponent of equal strength for the Vietnamese team to both test and think about positive results to encourage their spirit.

The Vietnamese team has played five official matches under coach Kim Sang-sik, with one win, one draw and three losses. Kim's team beat the Philippines 3-2, then lost three consecutive matches against Iraq (1-3), Russia (0-3) and Thailand (1-2). The Vietnamese team only broke the losing streak when they faced India in October, when the two teams drew 1-1.

Physical fitness test

The Vietnamese team is training both physically and tactically during a 10-day training session in South Korea. Coach Kim Sang-sik has his players do gym exercises (strength training) combined with short and long distance running, along with non-ball exercises to increase their ability to collide and maintain competition intensity.

Quang Hai and his teammates had to practice short and medium distance speed exercises designed by expert Cedric Roger. The players were equipped with GPS chip vests to help the coaching staff collect and analyze biological data and information about the running process, distance traveled, location, acceleration, heart rate, health status of each player, from which to make appropriate adjustments.

Sharing with Thanh Nien Newspaper, a member of the Vietnamese team affirmed that the exercises are very difficult and demanding, but the players are confident they can meet them.

Three friendly matches with Ulsan Citizen (November 27), Daegu (November 29) and Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (December 1) will show how effective the exercises are.