Thailand coach Victor Hermans lashed out at his team's poor defence for their 5-3 loss to Ukraine in their second game at the Futsal World Cup last night.
Thailand’s Kritsada Wongkaeo, No.7, tries to get past Ukraine’s Sergiy Cheporniuk during their first round match yesterday. Photos by PATANAPONG HIRUNARD
The Ukrainians raced to a 5-0 lead at half-time and the Thais' brave rally in the second half was not enough to earn a crucial point for the hosts in their Group A match at Hua Mark Indoor Stadium.
''Our defence was horrible. We did not do according to our plan. Instead of focusing on defending, we tried to attack. After we were 5-0 down, I had to call a time-out to calm my players,'' Hermans said.
''We came back in the second half with three goals but it was not enough.''
After getting off to a good start to the tournament with a 3-1 win over Costa Rica in their opening game, Thailand could suffer an early exit.
All four teams in Group A can still progress to the next round after Costa Rica shocked Paraguay 6-3 in the other Group A match yesterday.
Ukraine lead the group with four points, followed by Thailand and Costa Rica who each have three, while Paraguay are bottom with one.
In their final group games on Wednesday, Thailand must avoid defeat against Paraguay who must win to stay in contention for a second-round berth, and Ukraine take on Costa Rica.
The top two teams from each of the six groups progress to the knockout stages along with four best third-placed sides.
In last night's match, Denys Ovsiannikov punished Thailand's defensive error when he opened the scoring after just four minutes after goalkeeper Surapong Tompa failed to catch the ball.
Afterwards, Sergiy Cheporniuk hit two goals and Levgen Rogachov and Maksym Pavlenko scored one each as Ukraine took a commanding 5-0 lead at half-time.
Thailand regrouped in the second half with goals from Kritsada Wongkaeo, Suphawut Thuenklang and Jirawat Sornwichian but there was not enough time for them to get a point.
Ukaine coach Gennadiy Lisenchuk said: ''I am very pleased with the players. Thailand had a good speed and we are happy to have won the match. In the second half, Thailand came back well and got three goals which put a lot of pressure on us.''
Costa Rica 6 Paraguay 3
Costa Rica staged an amazing comeback to stun Paraguay 6-3. Having been two goals down at half-time, the Concacaf champions rallied in the scond half with Edwin Cuillo scoring three goals and creating two.
Costa Rica could not have asked for a worse start as they fell behind after just one minute and 41 seconds. Worse was that goalkeeper Jairo Toruna was credited with scoring an own goal.
Nine minutes later, Fabio Alcaraz added another goal as the South Americans led 2-0 at half-time.
But it was a different story in the second half as Costa Rica hit back with four unanswered goals in a spate of six minutes.
Trailing 4-2, Paraguay gambled by giving defender Gabriel Ayala the goalkeeper's jersey and pushed him forward to join their attack.
However, the move backfired when the defender-turned-goalkeeper's pass was intercepted and Cubillo scored from almost inside his own penalty box for a 5-2 advantage.
After Walter Villalba claimed a consolation, Cubillo capped their fightback with a goal from the halfway line.
RESULTS
Group A
Ukraine 5 Thailand 3
Costa Rica 6 Paraguay 3
STANDINGS
PW D L GF GA Pts
Ukraine2 1 1 0 8 6 4
Thailand 2 1 0 1 6 6 3
Costa Rica 2 1 0 1 6 6 3
Paraguay 2 0 1 1 6 8 1
Young Thai fans cheer their team at Indoor Stadium.