War Elephants poised to beat Singapore

By Lerpong Amsa-ngiam 

The Nation

 

Milovan Rajevac 

 

Host Thailand are poised to beat Singapore on Sunday in their last Group B game to finish on top which will guarantee a spot into the knock-out stage of the AFF Suzuki Cup.

 

The two-time defending champion, with two wins over Timor Leste and Indonesia and a draw with the Philippines in the only away game will head into the weekend play as group leader with seven points, just like the Philippines who also have seven points from three matches.

 

Singapore, with only six points at third, can only reach the semi-finals providing that they upset the home team for three points, a scenario that will send the five-time champions out of the tournament if Philippines beat or draw level with Indonesia on the same day.

 

From all their eight meets in the tournament record, Thailand have beaten Singapore four times with two draws and two defeats. But the Kingdom always prevailed over the Republic in their last three games since 2012.

 

However Thailand have been widely criticised from fans over the social media about their too much defensive game that led to a loss of goal to the Philippines in Bacolod on Wednesday. Never conceding a goal has always been the top priority of coach Milovan Rajevac since he has taken this job in 2016.

But to get past this hurdle and achieve the ultimate goal of retaining the crown, Rajevac must take some risks and at the same time never allow his men to lose guard.

 

The Serbian coach said he has kept his eyes on Singapore’ games and viewed that his side must be highly concentrated in the Sunday’s showdown.

 

“Singapore were the better team against the Philippines but they (Sin) were unlucky to lose a goal. Against Indonesia, they were obviously the better side. We have to be really focused against them,” said Rajevac.

 

The Serbian also mentioned Singaporean forwarders Faris Ramli, 26, and Ikhsan Fandi, 19, as two potential players who are capable of posing threats to the Thai team.

 

“Ramli and Fandi always create good scoring opportunities. But Singapore is strong in overall, so there’s never a plan to mark any particular player,” Rajevac said.

 

Thai national coach also regarded Singapore’s set-piece as one of the aspects his players must be aware of.

 

“We have to be careful with their set piece. In the game with Indonesia, we didn’t tackle the corner ball well. We are trying to improve in this area,” he added.

 

The Thai-Singapore game is due at 7am at the Rajamangala National Stadium. Channel 7 HD will beam live coverage of the match. Top two teams from each group will proceed to the knock-out stage which starts on December 1.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/sports/30359176

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-11-24

3 hours ago, rooster59 said:

The Thai-Singapore game is due at 7am at the Rajamangala National Stadium.

That's an early start!

2 hours ago, Phuketshrew said:

That's an early start!

yeah while there's no traffic LOL

Historians ,who came up with dopey name WAR ELEPHANTS ?

On 11/24/2018 at 7:23 PM, Sparkles said:

Historians ,who came up with dopey name WAR ELEPHANTS ?

 

erm, hannibal?

On 11/24/2018 at 7:23 PM, Sparkles said:

Historians ,who came up with dopey name WAR ELEPHANTS ?

https://theculturetrip.com/asia/thailand/articles/how-ancient-thailand-used-elephants-as-instruments-of-war/

 

Looks like elephants were quite often used in battle in Thailand a few hundred years ago.