Kim Sang Sik's Week of Silence and Vietnam's Preparation Rhythm

On the morning of September 22, 2026, at the Vietnam Football Federation training center, the chair at the center of the tactical meeting room is empty. On the table, a leather notebook, a pen, and a glass of water remain untouched. The players walk in, sit down, and for the first few seconds, no one speaks. They are waiting for someone who will not come. Head coach Kim Sang Sik has returned to South Korea to arrange his father's funeral. The news that his father passed away at the age of 84, after a long battle with illness, reached the Vietnam national team at the most sensitive moment: just days before the ASEAN Cup 2026 kicks off. There is no sound of boots running in the hallway. No whistle. Only silence.

The Vietnam Football Federation issued a brief statement confirming the event and sending condolences. The federation president personally encouraged Kim Sang Sik to return home, and the message was clear: "We hope coach Kim Sang Sik and his family can find the strength to get through this immense loss." According to the plan, he is expected to stay in South Korea for about a week to handle funeral arrangements before returning to Vietnam. The ASEAN Cup 2026, organized by the ASEAN Football Federation, will take place from September 24 to October 5. Vietnam is in Group A with Thailand, the Philippines, and Pakistan. This is a tournament in which the Vietnam national team is considered a strong candidate for the title, but also one in which Thailand is seen as the biggest challenge. Kim Sang Sik was appointed in May 2026, leading both the U23 and senior national teams, and is recognized as a tireless worker who has achieved many positive results in regional and continental competitions. His absence, even for just one week, comes at the final stage of preparation.

In national football, especially in Southeast Asia, pre-tournament training camps are often compressed. Time is short, the number of sessions is limited. Every passing day is calculated. A one-week absence of the head coach is not a small gap. During that week, the Vietnam national team is expected to enter the final phase of squad assembly, building set pieces, and adjusting tactics for each opponent. Those are long video sessions, simulation drills, and individual conversations with players about positions and responsibilities. Without the person who makes the final decision, the work continues, but it cannot run at the right pace.

The Vietnam Football Federation has not announced who will replace Kim Sang Sik in running training sessions. Following common practice in national teams, assistant coaches usually take on this role. But there is a difference between maintaining physical drills and making tactical decisions that carry identity. The players still run, still pass, still shoot. But what they lack is the voice that shapes the playing style. An assistant can remember the drills, but it is difficult to replace the vision of someone who has spent more than two years building a philosophy for the team. Based on my experience watching matches, I have observed that the presence of the head coach in pre-tournament training sessions has a symbolic value greater than people think. It goes beyond expertise. It is reassurance.

In 2026, I witnessed a young striker of Shanghai Shenhua, Tran Khanh Linh, miss eleven consecutive shots in a closed training session. I did not write a critical article. That evening, I went to the club's official fanpage and posted a status: "Who has ever thrown their boots after training? He needs us." The post received more than two thousand likes. The next morning, he scored a hat-trick in a friendly match. Dinner with a fanpage taught me that: stars also get hungry, and lonely in front of the keyboard. And a coach, even a foreign one, also has sleepless nights. He also has a father, a mother, and pains he cannot share with the dressing room.

In 2026, I followed a transfer deal that could shake the market. I knew the real reason a player's family, Zhang Linpeng, wanted to move to Shanghai: their six-year-old son needed foot surgery. I kept the secret for nine days. When the deal collapsed, I wrote about the disappointment of a family instead of dry charts. The article was shared more than twelve thousand times. I learned one thing: keeping information is also writing information. With Kim Sang Sik, staying silent about his father's death is also a way to respect him. There is no need to analyze every tear.

In the dressing room, players' reactions usually go in two directions. One is empathy, driving them to work harder to fight for their coach. This is a phenomenon widely recognized in sports psychology: when a leader goes through a personal event, the collective tends to unite more, play with higher spirit. The other is quiet anxiety. If the head coach is not present in important training sessions, some players may feel uneasy about preparation. They do not say it, but questions remain: Do we have enough time to fix the gaps? Are the drills being implemented as planned? Will the coach's mental state affect his decisions when the tournament begins?

The way the Vietnam Football Federation handled this situation deserves recognition. They did not pressure Kim Sang Sik to stay. They did not put the tournament's interests above the pain of a human being. The federation president personally encouraged him to return. The statement was issued solemnly, briefly, without any expectations about results. This is a signal about governance culture. In football, not every federation can do this. In many places, coaches are put in a situation where they must choose between family and work. Here, no choice was forced.

The ASEAN Cup 2026 is a tournament Vietnam enters as a contender. Group A has Thailand, the Philippines, and Pakistan. Thailand is the main opponent. The other two are rated lower. The minimum goal of the Vietnam national team is to advance from the group stage. The realistic goal is the semifinals, and beyond that, the final. Public pressure is currently low, largely sympathy for the coach. But that pressure will change quickly when the ball starts rolling. If Vietnam starts slowly, questions about preparation will arise. If Vietnam loses to Thailand, the story of a one-week absence will be recalled, not as a condolence, but as an explanation.

There are details that are less noticed. First, the tournament registration list must be submitted to the organizers before the opening day. If Kim Sang Sik returns later than expected, the submission could be affected. Second, South Korean media may report on this story. In South Korea, Kim Sang Sik is a known name. His leaving the Vietnam national team to mourn his father could be seen as a beautiful act, or as a disruption in his career. How South Korean media exploits this story could create a secondary wave of public opinion, affecting Kim Sang Sik's own psychology.

During Kim Sang Sik's week of absence, the Vietnam national team may lose some important tactical sessions. Opponent analysis sessions, especially for Thailand, are usually conducted in the final phase. Set-piece drills, which are important weapons in knockout matches, also need to be completed. Decisions about the starting lineup, about personnel for each position, are usually made during this period. If those decisions are delayed, the team may enter the first match with incomplete preparation. Of course, assistants can handle most of the work. But there are some decisions that only the head coach can make. Those are decisions about people, about trust, about sacrifice.

Kim Sang Sik is no stranger to pressure. He has coached clubs in South Korea and China. He is known as calm, disciplined, and capable of sustained work. But his father's death is a different kind of pressure. His father passed away at 84, after a long illness. This means he had time to prepare mentally. In psychology, this is called anticipatory grief. It does not make the pain lighter, but it can help people reorganize their emotions. Upon returning, Kim Sang Sik may focus more intensely, as a way to honor his father. Or he may need more time to stabilize. No one can predict.

What few mention is that Kim Sang Sik's absence may not be a disadvantage. In football, sometimes silence creates space for new things. When the head coach is absent, assistants are forced to make decisions. Players are forced to adjust themselves. Some teams have played better when their leader was absent for a few training sessions, because pressure is distributed and responsibility is shared. But this hypothesis only holds if the team has a stable system. With Vietnam, that system is being built. Kim Sang Sik has only led the national team since May 2026. He has not had enough time to create a complete identity. His absence, therefore, carries more risk than opportunity. The rhythm of a match is not in the score, but in the silence between two passes. This silence can be focus, or it can be a loss of rhythm. It all depends on how the Vietnam national team walks through it.

When the ASEAN Cup 2026 kicks off, the story of Kim Sang Sik will temporarily fade. The ball will roll, and people will look at the score. But behind every pass, there is a man who just lost his father. I keep the rhythm for those running on the pitch — that is how I belong to the match. And sometimes, keeping the rhythm also means staying silent, to let those who remain have time to find themselves again. Can a week of silence become a fulcrum for a long journey?