The Hindu : Sport / Football : Thailand keen to prove a point

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 14, 2007
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Sport - Football

Thailand keen to prove a point

S.R. Suryanarayan

Home conditions favour India

BRING IT ON: Thailand's football players warming up on the eve of their match against India. — Photo: K.V. Srinivasan

CHENNAI: India takes on Thailand in what is the second match for each team in Group E of the Asian phase of the men's under-23 football qualifiers for the Beijing Olympics 2008, at the Nehru Stadium on Wednesday.

Not in recent times have the two teams met on a football field. To that extent there is a sense of suspense. Officials of both the teams give the impression of being clueless on the rival's strengths and weaknesses.

While the Indian coach, Colm Toal, was disappointed that he could not see the tape of Thailand's earlier match against N. Korea, Thailand's manager, Kaseem Jaliyawatwonkg said, "we do not know anything of your side. But we believe India is very strong."

Advantage Thailand

However, if statistics have any bearing then the advantage is with Thailand. It would appear that in their 21 meetings from 1956 till 2004, Thailand had won 9 matches, drawn six and lost six. As per FIFA rankings, Thailand at 126 is a clear 31 slots above India. Where the teams are on even keel is that both have lost their first outing in the ongoing qualifiers, Thailand having gone down 0-1 to N. Korea and India getting beaten 0-3 by Iraq.

But then Thailand is here with a mission. Losing to Korea in a jam-packed stadium at home had hurt the players and to that extent they are out to prove a point in Chennai. Moreover with an average age of 19 years, the team is the future of Thai football and to that extent the expectations are high back home. At least three to four players had played in the Doha Asian Games and one of them, the wily striker Teeratep Winothai, had turned out for the Under-17 World Cup earlier. The team's preparations too have been top class with a match against Denmark the highpoint of this phase.

Home conditions

For India, the home conditions is a plus point and then the Coach's assessment that the boys played with lot of purpose in the earlier match. With players like Syed Rahim Nabi, Rocus Lamare, Gurmangi Singh and Branco Cardozo capable of knitting good moves with their understanding and movements, some interesting moments are on the cards in this key match. The women had set the ball rolling earlier and now the men will set the pace in what should be an absorbing encounter under floodlights.

Entry is by tickets (Rs 20). ZEE Sports is telecasting the match live.

The teams: Thailand (from): Chalermkiat Sombatpan, Prat Smakrat, Noppol Pitafai, Panjuwat Failai, Kiatprawut Saiwaeo, Jetsadakorn Hemdaeno, Rattapol Piyavutiskul, Sutinun Phukhom, Kriannokra Pimrat, Piyachart Thamaphan, Warut Wongdee, Jakkaphan Kaewprom, Anuwat Inyin, Teerasil Dangda, Teeratep Winothai, Roonachai Rangsiyo, Chakrit Buathong.

Coach: Prapol Pongpanich; Manager: Kaswm Jaliya Watwonkg

India (from): Subrata Pal, Subhashish Choudhary, Arindam Bhatacharya, Debarata Roy, Sunil Kumar, Gurjinder Singh, N.S. Manju (cap), D. Ravanan, Branco Cardozo, Warun Deep, Rakesh Masih, Rocus Lamare, Gurmangi Singh, Subhas Chakraborthy, Mehtab Hussain, Tarif Ahmed, Syed Rahim Nabi, Joaquim Abranches, Manjit Singh, Sushil K.R. Singh. Chief coach: Colm Toal. Manager: Santo Mitra.

Match Commissioner: Alisher Muminov (Uzb). Referee: Ali-Saleem, Assistant Referees: Mohammed Saeed and Ahmed Ameez; Fourth official: Riyaz Rasheed (all from Maldives).