Thailand brings 2 'European-mixed' stars to ASIAD 18
There are no players over 23 years old in the Thai Olympic squad for the 18th ASIAD. Chanathip Songkrasin, Teerasil Dangda, Theerathon Bunmathan... will continue to play for J.League clubs instead of returning to the team.
The Asian Games men's football competition allows Olympic teams to call up 3 players over the age of 23. Therefore, many teams, including strong teams like Korea, are willing to register both Son Heung Min and Cho Hyun Woo - 2 stars who just competed in the World Cup - to the Olympic squad.
However, there is still an exception that uses 100% of players under 23 years old to participate in ASIAD. That is the Thai Olympic team. Recently, the Football Association of Thailand announced the preliminary list of 30 players for the Thai Olympic team. Notably, coach Worrawoot Srimaka did not call up any stars over 23 years old, including Chanathip Songkrasin, Teerasil Dangda, Theerathon Bunmathan...
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| Marco Ballini (right) was called up to the Thai Olympic team. |
Another notable point is that compared to the U23 Thailand squad that won the SEA Games gold medal a year ago, Mr. Srimaka only kept 2 players. Those are striker Chenrop Samphaodi and defender Worawut Namvech. In addition, compared to the U23 Thailand squad that was eliminated from the group stage of the 2018 AFC U23 Championship, they also only kept 5 players in the training list this time.
Two notable names in the preliminary list of 30 players called up for the Thai Olympic team are defender Marco Ballini and midfielder Oscar Kahl. Ballini has both Italian and Thai blood. He played for the ACCesena youth team before joining Chainat Hornbill in the 2018 Thai League. Meanwhile, Oscar Kahl is a player with dual Swedish and Thai nationality. He currently plays for Army United, also of the Thai League.
Before participating in ASIAD 2018, Olympic Thailand will compete in the Alpine Cup 2018 friendly tournament with opponents U23 Bahrain, U19 Korea and host U23 Myanmar.
