Thais look to seal Asian  Games last-16 berth today

Thais look to seal Asian  Games last-16 berth today

By Lerpong Amsa-ngiam 
The Nation

Worrawoot Srimaka

National coach Worrawoot Srimaka has his eyes firmly fixed on the Asian Games knockout stage after a tremendous effort by his players earned them a 1-1 draw in their opening clash with 2006 champions Qatar on Tuesday.

Despite a 2-0 loss record against the Middle Eastern side, Thailand showed no fear and rallied from a goal down to equalise through a header from Supachai Chaided in injury time.

That one point brought Worawoot a step closer to his target of four points which would be enough to secure Thailand a spot in the next round.

The top two teams from each of six groups and the four best third-placed finishers move into the round of 16.

Thailand have two group games left, against Bangladesh and Uzbekistan, and are expected to gain three points in today’s match with Bangladesh (which can be seen live on Workpoint TV at 4pm) and thus reach their target regardless of what happens in the last group game against the powerful Uzbeks.

“I’m quite satisfied with the outcome as this was just our first game,” said Worrawoot, who could afford to smile as the victory silenced widespread criticism, both of his player selection and poor warm-up results, heading into the Games.

“In fact we had so many opportunities but we didn’t capitalise. We will fix that later on. This boosts our confidence going into the game against Bangladesh.

“We will have to slow things down as our players were a bit hasty in their scoring opportunities. If we had taken our time to set up the ball better, there should have been more goals,” added the national coach who also orchestrated Thailand’s SEA Games gold medal defence in Malaysia last year.

 Worrawoot is confident about his players’ ability to overcome Bangladesh but made it would be dangerous to underestimate today’s opponents. 

The two nations have never met at under-23 level but the Kingdom’s senior team leads 9-3 with two draws in their head-to-head stats.  

 “It is clear that the chance to reach the next stage is to beat Bangladesh. I believe the players can live up to the expectations but we won’t pressure them to go for the goals hurriedly. There is no guarantee in football. But we will try our best in order to move ahead in the tournament,” added Worrawoot.

 Meanwhile in the women’s basketball Group Y on Wednesday, Thailand were trounced 110-42 by 2014 silver medallists China.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/sports/30352214

 

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