Thailand sustain another defeat at West Asian meet
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Thailand sustain another defeat at West Asian meet

Thailand's Sitthinan Rungrueang, right, vies with Jordan's Laith Abu Rahal.
Thailand's Sitthinan Rungrueang, right, vies with Jordan's Laith Abu Rahal.

Thailand lost their second straight game at the invitational WAFF U23 Championship in Saudi Arabia on Saturday night, going down 3-1 to Jordan.

The loss in the classification round battle came after a 1-0 defeat at the hands of South Korea on Wednesday when Jordan were beaten 2-1 by hosts Saudi Arabia in a penalty shoot-out after a 1-1 tie at time.

Despite the loss, Thailand U23 team coach Issara Sritaro is drawing positives from the match.

"It was encouraging to see some of our main players do well after the break, creating some good scoring opportunities," said Issara.

"It was clear from the word go that we were the underdogs and Jordan played really well.

"We can't blame the players because they tried to follow the tactics to the best of their ability.

"We made changes at certain positions in the second half by sending in some of our key players and that made a lot of difference."

The Thais started well when Thanadol Kaosaart put the young War Elephants ahead in the 23rd minute, but the Jordanians levelled the score eight minutes later through Mohannad Abu Taha.

Jordan surged ahead when Aref Mohammad found the net after 37 minutes and Reziq Banihani struck shortly after the break to make it 3-1.

The Thais made an effort to claw their way back into the game but couldn't add any goals to their tally.

They will next play the United Arab Emirates in the 7th-8th place play-off on Wednesday.

Thailand have been invited to take part in the tournament by the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF).

The tournament serves as a warm-up for the AFC U23 Asian Cup in Qatar, starting April 15.

Meanwhile, the Football Association of Thailand has joined hands with the Sports Authority of Thailand and Plan B to instal a giant screen outside the 48,900-seat Rajamangala National Stadium, where the Thai national team will play a 2026 World Cup qualifier against South Korea tomorrow evening.

Tickets for the home match have been sold out.

The match will kick off at 7.30pm and will be televised live by Thai Rath TV (32).

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