Thailand lost to China
The Thai team lost 1-2 to China on November 16 in the Group C match of the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia. After this defeat at home at Rajamangala Stadium, coach Mano Polking received much criticism from the media in the Land of the Golden Temple.
According to statistics from Thailand's Daily News, Mr. Mano Polking has a rather poor record when facing teams ranked higher than Thailand on the FIFA rankings.
Coach Mano Polking looked tired after the defeat against the Chinese team (Photo: Daily News).
Daily News wrote: "Revealing the achievements of coach Mano Polking since he led the Thai team. When coach Mano Polking's Thailand faced teams with higher rankings on the FIFA rankings, he had poor results."
"In terms of total achievements, the Thai team under coach Mano Polking played a total of 36 international matches, they won 20 matches, drew 8 matches and lost 8 matches. Mr. Mano Polking also won the AFF Cup championship twice (2020, 2022).
However, if we only separate the 13 matches that Mano Polking's Thailand faced against higher-ranked opponents, Thailand only won 4 matches, drew 3 matches and lost 6 matches," Daily News added.
Of Thailand's four wins against higher-ranked teams, two were against Vietnam (whose FIFA ranking is higher than Thailand's), one against Trinidad & Tobago and one against Lebanon.
The disappointment of the Thai team after losing to China (Photo: Daily News).
But in the two matches against Trinidad & Tobago and Lebanon, Thailand won both matches in the King's Cup friendly tournament, not in the official tournament matches.
Of Thailand's three draws against higher-ranked teams, two were against Vietnam. The remaining draw was against Iraq.
Thailand's six losses came against teams ranked higher than them, notably a 1-2 loss to China on November 16 and an 8-0 loss to Georgia in October. Thailand's remaining losses came against Bahrain, Syria, Uzbekistan and the UAE.
The goal of Thai football is to escape from Southeast Asia, join the Asian level, and go out to the world. Therefore, when the Thai team did not achieve good results against teams of Asian level, the Thai press expressed dissatisfaction.
The Daily News commented: "How far has coach Mano Polking done when facing teams ranked higher than Thailand? In total, coach Mano Polking's team has lost nearly half of those matches."
Source
Comment (0)