Asian Cup 2019: When the Thais are "backed into a corner"

Thailand will have 6-7 new quality players at the 2019 Asian Cup. With versatile players, head coach Rajevac can handle many situations on the field.

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In fact, holding 5/12 AFF Cup gold cups, prioritizing the Asian Cup is what FAT should do, if it wants football to develop. Perhaps, the Thai people feel embarrassed when the "King of Asean" title is in the hands of Vietnam.

Among the three Southeast Asian teams, Thailand is still the team with the best chance of advancing. Photo: Internet

To prepare for the 2018 Asian Cup, Mr. Somyot Poompanmoung personally invited famous player Choketawee to be an assistant to head coach Rajevac. Choketawee will act as a bridge between the coaching staff and the Thai players. In fact, Choketawee used to be an assistant to coach Kiatisak but then suddenly quit due to disagreements.

Recently, the Thai team's coaching staff also has opponent analysis expert Julio Cesar Moreno, who used to work with "wizard" Milutinovic. ExpertChilean, who was assistant to coach Rajevac when he led Ghana to the quarter-finals of the 2010 World Cup. Julio Cesar will be the expert in analyzing opponents and planning the way Thailand plays against each opponent to defeat the opponent.

Plus skilled workers

The leaders of the Thai Football Federation are looking forward to the participation of players: Kawin Thamsatchanan (OH Leuven), Theerathon Bunmatham (Vissel Kobe), Chanathip Songkrasin (Consadole Sapporo) and Teerasil Dangda (Sanfrece Hiroshima), along with players recovering from injuries such as: Chatthong, Tristan Do, Yooyen... will create a very strong Thailand, at least in the group stage.

Adisak Kraisorn, despite winning the AFF Cup Golden Boot, still cannot match Teerasil Dangda in terms of character. The tense situation when this striker missed the decisive penalty at the end of the second leg of the semi-final against Malaysia is a proof.

Speaking to the press, Thailand's best player, a member of the J-League 1 best squad of the 2018 season - Chanathip said: "The possibility of Thailand passing the group stage of the Asian Cup is very high". Chanathip is currently in good form for Sapporo Club. After 30 rounds of the J.League, the "Thai Messi" scored 8 goals and contributed 2 assists. Thanks to that, Sapporo Club rose to 4th place on the J.League rankings.

According to Japanese press, due to Chanathip's excellent performance, Sapporo Club is willing to spend 6.1 million USD to buy him from Muangthong Club. If this deal is successful, Chanathip will become the most expensive player in Southeast Asia. Therefore, it is not too much to say that at the 2019 Asian Cup, the Thai National Team's hopes are placed on Chanathip.

Compared to Vietnam, Thailand is in a relatively easy group because in addition to the host UAE, Bahrain and India are considered weaker. The possibility of Thailand winning the official ticket, specifically second in Group A, is very high, meaning defeating India and Bahrain.

Otherwise, the play-off ticket (third place with good results) is also very bright for Thailand. Their match schedule is also quite favorable, the first match is against India (January 6, 2019), on January 10, Thailand meets Bahrain and on January 14, they meet the host UAE.

The wall

The Thais are putting pressure on police general Somyot Poompanmoung in his role as FAT president when 2018 was too inferior to Vietnamese football. In all three tournaments, the 2018 AFC U23 Championship, 2018 ASIAD and most recently the 2018 AFF Cup, they all lost to Coach Park Hang-seo and his team.

Pressure is growing on head coach Rajevac's shoulders. Photo: Internet

In the past, the highest achievement in this playground was third place in the 1972 Asian Cup, as the host. To date, Thailand has never passed the group stage and in fact they have only won 1 out of 15 matches (5 draws, 9 losses), scored 9 goals, but conceded 36 goals. So in the current "cornered" situation, can head coach Rajevac and his team do anything?

With the increasingly difficult schedule, coach Rajevac will try to have 2 wins before facing the host UAE. At the AFF Cup 2018, Thailand was the team that had to leave the tournament despite not losing any match. With Dangda and Chanathip, Thailand's ability to score will increase significantly, these "killers" playing abroad often occupy positions very well in front of the opponent's goal.

In general, Thailand's style of play at the 2019 Asian Cup is still playing offensively with the familiar 4-2-3-1 formation, but the tactics are much more diverse. With the addition of 6-7 quality players, the "war elephants" aim to pass the group stage and people believe that the Thais will do it. In fact, among the 3 Southeast Asian teams, Thailand is still the team with the "brightest chance" of advancing.