The incredible paradox first appears in the Vietnamese national team.

The Vietnamese national team currently possesses too many quality goalkeepers but lacks a striker who scores consistently at this moment.

While the Vietnamese national team's attack is facing many issues as strikers continuously fail to score in the V.League, there is fierce competition in the goalkeeper position. Experienced and stable names like Đặng Văn Lâm, Nguyễn Filip, and Lê Giang are creating intense competition for the starting spot, giving coach Kim Sang Sik a "headache" but in a positive way.

Therefore, the squad picture of the Vietnamese national team shows two quite distinct extremes. While the attack worries the coaching staff as key scorers still haven't regained their scoring touch in the V.League, the goalkeeper position is abundantly stocked. With many quality goalkeepers in good form, coach Kim Sang Sik has a "forest of choices" for the team's goalkeeper position.

In this late March training camp, coach Kim Sang Sik called 5 goalkeepers to the preliminary list of the Vietnamese national team. Besides the 3 overseas Vietnamese goalkeepers Patrik Lê Giang, Filip Nguyễn, and Văn Lâm, there are also 2 other excellent goalkeepers Trung Kiên and Đình Triệu. Only one can be the starter, but not calling any of these 5 names would be wasteful since all 5 deserve selection.

This is a rare period in the history of the Vietnamese national team having so many quality goalkeepers. However, while the defense is solid, the attack becomes a major concern. Even counting Xuân Son, no striker currently has truly good form to place full confidence in.

Đình Bắc is suspended and also hasn't scored a single goal in the V-League. Tiến Linh hasn't scored in 11 matches either. Xuân Son struggled to score just once in the V-League and has been quite unlucky recently. Tuấn Hải and Thanh Nhàn have never been strong enough to be main strikers for the Vietnamese national team.

This is precisely the interesting paradox in the Vietnamese national team, completely different from previous periods. This will be a tricky problem coach Kim Sang Sik must solve before the important match against Malaysia in the Asian Cup 2027 qualifiers.

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