Thailand hope to secure easier draw

Thailand hope to secure easier draw

Indonesia loom in final group match

Incheon: The Thai men’s football team needs a win against Indonesia in their last group game today to avoid a powerhouse in the next round.

Thailand, blue, beat Timor Leste 3-0 in the previous match in Incheon.

Both have qualified for the knockout stages with two wins in their first two matches in Group E.

Thailand beat the Maldives 2-0 and Timor Leste 3-0 while Indonesia finished off Timor Leste 7-0 and the Maldives 4-0.

Thanks to their superior goal difference, Indonesia will top the group if they avoid defeat against the Thais.

Group E winners will meet China or Pakistan and runners-up will take on North Korea in the last 16 round.

North Korea, one of the title favourites, hammered China 3-0 in their opening match.

Thailand coach Kiatisak Senamuang said he was not worried much about his men’s next opponent.

“All the teams who qualify for the last 16 round are good,’’ he said.

However, with pride at stake, he wants to beat Indonesia.

“Although Indonesia will top the group with a draw with us, I am sure that they want to beat us after losing to us twice at last year’s SEA Games,’’ Kiatisak said.

Under Kiatisak, Thailand defeated Indonesia 4-1 in the preliminary round and 1-0 in the final at the SEA Games in Myanmar.

The men’s football tournaments at the SEA Games and Asian Games are for under-23 players.

“We will go on the attack from the start,’’ Kiatisak said

However, he is likely to be without striker Adisak Kraisorn who is injured. If he is unfit, then Chananan Pombupha will start.

Indonesia coach Aji Santoso said he may rest some key players for them to be fresh for the next round.

“We may use some new players and rest some key players,’’ said Santoso. “But we will surely aim to beat Thailand.’’

Thailand have never won an Asian Games medal in football but this time they believe they can go all the way. If they do, they will receive in the region of 100 million baht in bonus from the government, private companies and Football Association of Thailand.

In yesterday’s action, defending champions Japan qualified for the knockout phase with a 4-0 victory over Nepal.

A second-half brace from Albirex Niigata striker Musashi Suzuki and a goal each by Gakuto Notsuda and Shoya Nakajima lifted Makoto Teguramori’s squad into the second round as runners-up of Group D.

Iraq topped the group with a 3-0 win over Kuwait, finishing the first round with their third victory in as many games.

Japan play Group C winners Palestine on Thursday.

Nepal, whose first-round departure had already been sealed after losing 5-0 to Kuwait four days ago, had all 11 men behind the ball against Japan who dominated possession but naturally struggled to find space.

With virtually no room in the box, Nakajima took the first stab in the 20th minute from 25 metres out, but his shot for the bottom corner was parried away by Bikesh Kuthu.

It was another effort from outside the area that broke the deadlock in the 33rd minute, when Notsuda beat Kuthu with a 30-metre drive off the crossbar.

Japan should have gone up by two five minutes later as Ryosuke Yamanaka’s left-wing cross set Notsuda up for a free header right in front of goal, but the Sanfrecce Hiroshima midfielder fired over the bar to his disbelief.

Nakajima, though, did produce a second for Japan nine minutes into the second half when he linked with Suzuki, who put the FC Tokyo man through with a clever back-heel.

Nakajima read the keeper well before sliding the ball past Kuthu to effectively put the game away.

Suzuki dashed any and all hopes of a Nepalese miracle by scoring two minutes past the hour and making it 4-0 after 70 minutes as Teguramori’s men punched their ticket to the second round.

In handball, Japan’s women handballers scored nearly a goal a minute as they buried hapless Maldives 79-0 at the Asian Games.

Three players got into double figures as the Japanese ran up a 40-0 scoreline at half-time and kept going to hand out a beating of giant proportions.

Maldives goalkeeper Nahidha Ahmed did not save a single shot as 11 of the 14 Japanese scorers enjoyed a 100 percent shot conversion ratio.

“Our physical conditions are low overall, we have injuries. Forty percent of the players are injured,” said their coach Abdulla Saleem. “We need lots of improvements to the national team. I think we will try our best in tomorrow’s match.”

The epic defeat comes after the women’s footballers from the honeymoon resort destination lost 15-0, 10-0 and 13-0 to India, Thailand and South Korea respectively.

In the pool, their women’s 4x100m freestyle team finished their heat in five minutes, 11.81 seconds — more than a minute-and-a-half behind pace-setters China.

Aishath Sajina splashed almost the whole two lengths of her anchor leg alone as the other teams towelled off, before she finally touched. 

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