"Son of the Wind God" Van Toan "tests" Mr. Kim Sang Sik's improvisation skills

Van Toan is absent, Mr. Kim is worried

Less than a day after announcing the list of Vietnamese players preparing for the matches against Russia and Thailand during FIFA Days in September, as well as the 2024 AFF Cup, Mr. Kim Sang Sik immediately received the first "bad news" with Van Toan's injury.

Van Toan's injury - known as "the son of the wind god" - is basically not too complicated, but not being able to join the team during the upcoming FIFA Days has a significant impact on coach Kim Sang Sik's preparation plan for the Vietnamese team.

It is worth mentioning that, as soon as he took over the captaincy of the Vietnamese team, the Korean coach placed great expectations on the striker who is currently playing for the reigning V-League champions Nam Dinh. And in fact, Van Toan also met the head coach's expectations very well.

In the first matches under the Korean captain, Van Toan played very impressively, especially in the narrow victory against the Philippines in the World Cup qualifiers when he contributed to 2/3 of the home team's goals.

Not only playing a creative role, Van Toan's ability to play dynamically and enthusiastically also helped the Vietnamese team overcome difficulties in a match where many teammates were "frozen" due to pressure after a series of previous failures.

Is Van Duc capable of replacing?

It didn't take long, as soon as there was a report about Van Toan's injury and absence, Mr. Kim Sang Sik made additional adjustments by calling Phan Van Duc back to the Vietnam team after a long absence due to poor form or injury.

Calling Van Duc to replace Van Toan is relatively reasonable, especially when the player from Nghe An has fully recovered, and has just scored a goal for Hanoi Police at the Southeast Asian Club Championship in front of coach Kim Sang Sik himself.

However, whether Van Duc can meet the expectations of the Korean captain like Van Toan is a big question for the player from Nghe An.

With a long injury treatment period, it is clearly impossible for Van Duc to return to his form like when he won the runner-up position with U23 Vietnam in Changzhou.

At the same time, the player from Nghe An is only physically fit enough to play for about 6-70 minutes, so it is clear that it is quite difficult to completely replace the role that Van Toan left, that is, to ensure excellent support in attack and defense.

But anyway, Van Toan's absence will still have a replacement, at least making Mr. Kim Sang Sik less worried in the context that the AFF Cup is not far away.