Thailand won easily the first match of the Asian Cup qualifiers

Before the military launch, Thailand had a crisis of forces, with 13 players have diarrhea because I am not used to the food in Uzbekistan. The Football Association of Thailand (FAT) has petitioned the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to ask for a replacement in case some players have diarrhea and do not recover in time, but coach Polking still has enough people to play Maldives. And on today’s competition day, Thailand still has the strongest force, when pillars like Theerathon Bunmathan, Tristan Do, Thitipan Puangchan or Teerasil Dangda all appear.

Thailand is currently ranked 111th on the FIFA rankings, much higher than the Maldives – the team is only 156th. They also show high performance when they are unbeaten in the first 11 matches under Polking, including the journey to win the AFF Cup. 2020, and only lost to Bahrain 1-2 in a friendly match at the end of May. On the opposite side, Maldives only won one of the last five matches. In the first qualifying round of the World Cup 2022, they only defeated a weak opponent, Guam.

The difference in class is clearly shown on the Markaziy field, when Thailand create a one-way game and continuously threaten the Maldives goal. After a series of missed opportunities, the Southeast Asian representative exploded in the last five minutes of the first half.

In the 41st minute, Theerathon crossed from the left to Sarach Yooyen to penetrate the penalty area and hit the bar with his head over the goal line, then bounced back. The referee blew the whistle to confirm the goal for Thailand. In the third minute of injury time, Thailand doubled the gap under a similar scenario. From the stretch line on the left wing, Dangda cushioned the heart to hit the Maldives net.

In the second half, Thailand reduced the tempo to keep their feet, but still found another goal in the 80th minute. Still from Theerathon’s cross on the left wing, Pansa Hemviboon caught a right-footed volley and hit the roof of the net, setting victory. 3-0.

In the second round on June 11, Thailand is expected to have an easier match when they meet Sri Lanka, the team ranked 205th on the FIFA rankings. Coach Polking aims to win the first two rounds before thinking about the last match against host Uzbekistan on June 14.

The 2023 Asian Cup third qualifying round has 28 teams divided into six round-robin groups, with six direct entries for the top six teams. Of the six group runners-up, the top five teams will win tickets. Vietnam did not have to participate in this qualifying stage thanks to passing the second stage of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers – which was used as a qualifying round for the 2023 Asian Cup.

Hong Duy