Buriram, Chiang Rai face off as VAR makes debut

Buriram, Chiang Rai face off as VAR makes debut

The Thailand Champions Cup trophy. Kittisak Mokkarat
The Thailand Champions Cup trophy. Kittisak Mokkarat

Thai League 1 champions Buriram United and FA Cup winners Chiang Rai United will square off in the Thailand Champions Cup today.

The match, which is a curtain raiser for the domestic football season, will use the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system for the first time in Thai football.

The game, at Supachalasai stadium, kicks off at 7pm and will be broadcast live on True4U.

Sasalak Haiprakon will miss the game for the Thunder Castle due to an injury but all the other players are available, according to team manager Tatthep Pitakpoolsin.

"This is our second match of the pre-season and the players are slowly regaining their fitness. Only Sasalak is not available due to an injury while others are raring to play.

"We are confident that we will win the Thailand Champions Cup and the players will give their best tomorrow," he added.

Chiang Rai team manager Chidtawan Chinanuwat added, "It is an honour for our team to play in this match. We haven't done that well during the pre-season. But this is a big game and we hope to win tomorrow."

Meanwhile the future of coach Zoran Jankovic will come under scrutiny as football chief Pol Gen Somyot Poompunmuang is preparing to call a meeting to review the national team's performance in the AFC U23 Championship in China.

The team, which returned home on Wednesday night, exited the tournament after finishing last in Group B following three losses.

"We will soon invite the U23 coaching staff to submit their report to technical chairman Witthaya Laohakul," Somyot, president of the Football Association of Thailand, told the media at a press conference yesterday.

"Under the contract, Zoran Jankovic's first evaluation is due on Feb 1 and the second is after the Asian Games in Indonesia.

"Witthaya will make an assessment and submit his report to me. We will take our next step after a thorough discussion," added the FAT boss.

"I think no-one is happy with the team's performance in China and the fact that the team lost all their games and didn't get any single point hurts.

"The FAT, the fans and I believe that the players themselves are not happy with what happened. This is something that the FAT and the technical chairman must look into," he added.

"But I would like to point out that the team that went to China was not our strongest. Some of our best players had pulled out before the tournament.

"The most important thing is that when the national team play in tournaments, we must coordinate better with clubs to get them to release their main players. When you don't have your best players in the team, then you don't deliver the results you want. So in the future, we must work better with clubs and their players," Somyot said.

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