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Coach Kim Sang-sik, meeting Thailand—the host nation and Vietnam's biggest rival—in the 2025 Southeast Asian Games finals.... After conceding two goals in the first half, it looked like the game was bust, but he immediately netted two goals in the second half, dragging the match into extra time. In ET, they finally managed the reversal winning goal, securing a dramatic 3-2 victory. Winning the title at the home of their biggest rival, flipping the final game from 0-2 to 3-2, is already thrilling and a great achievement, but the even more crucial point is that this meant he won three Southeast Asian tournaments in just one year! And they were all away games, too!

This was an achievement that even Coach Park Hang-seo could not manage. Specifically, the tournaments Coach Kim Sang-sik won are as follows:

First: 2024 Southeast Asian Cup Win

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You might wonder why it’s the '2024' SEA Cup when I said he won three titles in 2025. That’s because, contrary to the name, the 'last game' was held on January 5, 2025, so the win counted for 2025. Coach Kim Sang-sik’s Vietnam met their biggest rival, Thailand, in the final. Honestly, there were many concerns because Coach Park Hang-seo was eliminated by Thailand every time they met in this specific competition (losing in the semifinals in 2020 and the finals in 2022). However, Kim Sang-sik’s Vietnam beat Thailand 2-1 in the home leg 1, and then won 3-2 in the away leg 2, succeeding in the 'beating Thailand to win the SEA Cup' feat that even Coach Park Hang-seo couldn't achieve. Furthermore, this was the first time in Vietnam's history that they won both legs 1 and 2 against Thailand in a SEA Cup final. Vietnam did beat Thailand to win the 2008 tournament, but that was 2-1 (leg 1) and 1-1 (leg 2), so it wasn't a 'clean sweep.' This record is significant in many ways.

Second: 2025 U23 Southeast Asian Cup Win

In July 2025, they participated in the Southeast Asian U23 Tournament and faced Indonesia in the final. Indonesia was riding the host nation buff and had even defeated Thailand—who were the favorites after calling up mixed-heritage players—to reach the final, so a tough match was expected. However, Coach Kim Sang-sik’s Vietnam subdued Indonesia 1-0 in the final, hoisting the trophy once again deep in someone else's living room. FYI, unlike the aforementioned SEA Cup, this tournament is usually never broadcast domestically, but the 2025 tournament was exceptionally broadcast by SPOTV, making the win even more meaningful. For reference, Coach Park Hang-seo never participated in the Southeast Asian U23 tournament, so he naturally never won it. To be honest, it’s a bit ambiguous to call it a major tournament even within Southeast Asia. However, it's still a somewhat important competition, and winning it is definitely awesome.

Third: 2025 SEA Games Men's Football Gold Medal

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Unlike the two tournaments mentioned above, this was the only one that wasn't broadcast domestically, but they still managed to snag the gold medal at last. As mentioned earlier, they met host nation Thailand in the final, fell behind 0-2, and then scored three goals to snatch a reversal win. Thus, Coach Kim Sang-sik succeeded in achieving the crazy record of three tournament wins in one year—an achievement that even Coach Park Hang-seo failed to reach. Furthermore, he has won every single Southeast Asian tournament he has participated in so far, and as seen above, he won all the final matches. Excluding the home leg 1 of the SEA Cup final, three matches were away games, and he won them all, winning triumphantly on enemy turf. The only downside, however, is that his performance at the Asian level is a bit iffy. Losing to Iraq is one thing, but they also suffered a devastating 0-4 loss to Malaysia in the Asian Cup final qualifiers. BUT, it turns out Malaysia was caught using illegally naturalized players, so that loss is reportedly going to be changed to a forfeit win (....) It seems Coach Kim Sang-sik has great chemistry with Vietnam, and luck is following him too lol.