A gloomy year for Thai football
(Baonghean.vn) - This year, Thailand's youth teams have continuously suffered defeats in continental tournaments, and both Thailand's national men's and women's football teams have been surpassed by Vietnam.
BangkokPosthas a summary article: "A gloomy sky surrounds Thai football". 2019 is considered the worst year in the history of Thai youth football with a series of heavy defeats at the regional and continental levels. Everywhere you play, you lose!
From lose to lose
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| If they continue to fail at the 2020 AFC U23 Championship, FAT President Somyot and Coach Nishino will likely have to leave their seats. Photo AT |
Starting with the Thai U16 team losing to Malaysia U16 in the Southeast Asian final. Then in the 2020 AFC U16 Championship qualifying round, Thailand lost 0-2 to South Korea, losing their ticket to the Asian tournament for the first time in 8 years.
The quality of Thailand U19 is even worse. At the recent Southeast Asian U19 tournament in Ho Chi Minh City, Thai fans were so disappointed to see the young Thai players lose 3-4 to Cambodia. In the group stage, Thailand U19 only ranked 5th, below Australia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Cambodia. The most serious defeat was the 3-4 loss to Cambodia, a loss that the Thai people had to exclaim: "so shameful".
In the recent 2020 AFC U19 Championship qualifiers, Thailand continued to lose to Malaysia and Cambodia. The team from the Land of the Golden Pagodas was in an easy group as they did not meet any representatives from West Asia or East Asia. However, they only had 6 points after 4 matches, ranked third in Group G and were eliminated. This is the first time Thailand U19 has missed the Asian finals in 28 years. The pride of the Thai people has been hurt once again.
Southeast Asia has 6 U19 teams that have qualified for the 2020 AFC U19 Championship finals, including Vietnam, Laos, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Cambodia. Coach Issara Sritaro took responsibility after the match with Malaysia U19. He resigned because he could not help Thailand U19 qualify for the 2020 AFC U19 Championship.
The only youth tournament that Thailand participated in was the AFC U23 Championship…as the host. The intention of sending the strongest team to eliminate runner-up Vietnam U23 was soon ruined when they were defeated 0-4 by coach Park Hang-seo and his team at My Dinh. Before that, at the Southeast Asian U22 tournament in Cambodia, Thailand U22 also could not win the championship when they lost to Indonesia in the final.
The most unforgettable SEA Games
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| In 2019, Thai football lost to Vietnam in 2 finals. Photo: FAT |
At the national team level in the second qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup in Asia, Thailand is still at a disadvantage. In Group G with the participation of UAE, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia, Thailand had 2 goalless draws with Vietnam, won 2-1 at home against UAE, 3-0 against Indonesia and lost 1-2 to Malaysia with 8 points, ranked 3rd after Vietnam leading with 11 points, Malaysia with 9 points.
The President of the Football Association of Thailand (FAT) Somyot Poompunmuang was the one who went all the way to Tokyo to bring Coach A. Nishino back to Thai football. He declared that he only needed 10 days of preparation to win against Vietnam, but after two confrontations at the national team level, he still could not defeat Mr. Park.
SEA Games 30 was truly a sad memory for the Thai people when both the men's and women's teams were defeated by Vietnam. With Japanese coach A.Nishino, U22 Thailand received many expectations to win the gold medal in men's football for the 4th consecutive time when the squad had names like Supachok Sarachat, Supachai Chaided and Suphanat Mueanta. But in the end, they were the team that had to pack their bags and go home right after the group stage because of U22 Indonesia and Vietnam.
In the decisive match against U22 Vietnam, A. Nishino's students quickly created an advantage with 2 goals in the first minutes of the match, but easily let Coach Park Hang-seo's team equalize the score 2-2. A rather boring farewell SEA Games scenario.
Regarding women's football, Thai people have long been proud of their women's team having participated in two consecutive World Cup finals in 2015 and 2019. Even at the Southeast Asian Championship at home, they were full of hope of winning the championship, but in the end, the Thai women's team lost 0-1 to coach Mai Duc Chung and his team in extra time.
At the 30th SEA Games, Thailand was determined to take revenge but in the end had to suffer defeat against the Vietnamese women's team once again in the final match, also in extra time. Witnessing the Vietnamese team win the SEA Games for the 6th time, officially surpassing the number of championships of the Thais.
