Jirawat strikes for Thailand

Jirawat strikes for Thailand

Thailand's Jirawat Sornwichian celebrates with teammates after scoring against Morocco.
Thailand's Jirawat Sornwichian celebrates with teammates after scoring against Morocco.

Thailand coach Rakphol Sainetngarm praised his players for their fighting spirit after they drew 1-1 with Morocco thanks to a last-gasp equaliser in the Fifa Futsal World Cup in Lithuania on Thursday.

Jirawat Sornwichian's strike in the dying seconds cancelled out Youssef Jouad's first-half goal.

In the other Group C game, Portugal hammered the Solomon Islands 7-0.

The stalemate kept alive Thailand's hopes of reaching the round of 16 for the third time in a row.

After two games, Portugal have six points, Morocco four, Thailand one and the Solomon Islands zero.

The winners and runners-up in each of six groups and four best third-placed sides advance to the last 16 round.

Thailand should advance to the knockout stages with a win over the Solomon Islands in their last group game tomorrow.

"Our players fought until the last second," said Rakphol.

"They looked nervous in the first half but were more relaxed in the second half after we changed our tactics. We did really well in the last five minutes."

Thailand, who lost 4-1 to Portugal in their first match, attacked Morocco from the start.

But it was Morocco, who thrashed the Solomon Islands 6-0 in their opening game, that struck the first blow through Jouad in the 18th minute.

With the clock running down, Thailand continued to press their opponents with Warut Wangsama-aeo, Jetsada Chudech and Ronnachai Jungwongsuk seeing their goal-bound efforts denied.

Jirawat became Thailand's hero with 12 seconds remaining.

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