Thai people and the dream of defeating Vietnam
(Baonghean.vn) - For Thai people, defeating Vietnam is always a goal that they will try their best to overcome and vice versa. Over the past two decades, Thailand has used a total of 8 foreign coaches from Europe, America and Asia to compete with our team.
Although it is a "village" of world football, not many foreign coaches can last long when taking charge of Southeast Asian teams, and Thailand is no exception.
Use foreign teachers
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| Coach Nishino is the 8th foreign coach in the past 20 years. Photo: FAT. |
Since Peter With (1998-2002), no foreign coach of Thailand has lasted more than 2 years and their most successful period came with a local coach named Kiatisuk Senamuang (2013-2017). Although the Football Association of Thailand (FAT) has spared no expense to invite world-famous coaches to take charge of the team.
Serbian coach Milovan Rajevac almost took Ghana to the semi-finals of the 2010 World Cup but completely failed with the “War Elephants” when he was in charge from 2017 to 2019. Meanwhile, Akira Nishino, who is currently leading the Thai team, is a famous coach in Asia and once led the Japanese team to great success in the 2018 World Cup.
With just over 60 working days, he helped the "Blue Samurai" create a buzz at the world's biggest football festival. Here, the Japanese team overcame the odds for the second time in history.World Cup qualifiers, even almost eliminated Belgium in the round of 16 (leading by 2 goals). Besides his tactical talent, Akira Nishino's ability to orient the long-term development strategy of football was highly appreciated by FAT President Somyot.
However, the Japanese coach's mark as coach of the national team and U23 Thailand is not yet clear.SEA Games 30, U22 Thailand still cannot prevent U22 Vietnam from winning the championship, and in the second stage of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, the Thai team currently has 8 points, 3 points less than the Vietnamese team leading Group G after 5 matches. Thailand is determined to host Group G of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, the Thai team continues to show ambition when affirming its commitment to coach Nishino.
Sprint
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| For the Thai people, defeating Vietnam is always a goal that they will do everything they can to overcome. Photo: FAT |
It seems that the Thai media is getting impatient with Coach Nishino, as they recently announced that the Japanese coach is in his home country and is no longer interested in leading the Thai national team. The Thai1-League schedule is also not favorable for Coach Nishino to call up the young Thai U22 players to compete in the 31st SEA Games in Vietnam at the end of this year.
This made FAT restless and recently FAT Deputy Secretary General Patit Suphaphong had to speak up to confirm: “This is not true information. Coach Akira Nishino has read this news and he is very upset. He is waiting for a flight to Thailand because during the complicated Covid-19 epidemic, there are not many flights from Japan to Thailand.”
In addition, people are also concerned when Kiatisuk appeared at HAGL with the ambition to raise the level of the mountain town team with famous names.Cong Phuong, Van Toan, Tuan Anh, Xuan Truong, Van Thanh, Minh Vuong, Hong Duy. These are players who regularly appear in the Vietnamese national team under Park Hang-seo. If Zico Thai successfully "upgrades" Cong Phuong, who plays in the same position as Kiatisuk when he was a player, the Thai national team will face difficulties.
It seems that the Thai dream of surpassing the Vietnamese team is not easy when among the three factors of "heavenly time, favorable terrain, and harmony of people", they may only have the home field advantage, if they can surpass the UAE and register for the remaining matches of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.
