Channathip proves his superstar status to help Thailand win King's Cup 2024

In this important match for Thailand, coach Masatada Ishii no longer experimented with the lineup. He fielded almost the strongest lineup with the defensive quartet Nicholas Mickelson, Elias Dolah, Jonathan Khemdee, Sasalak Haiprakhon. In the midfield, Chanathip Songkrasin played alongside experienced midfielders Woorachit and Weerathep Pomphan. The attacking players of the "War Elephants" were also all stars: Suphanat Mueatan, Supachai Jaided, Ekanit Panya.

Panya opened the scoring for the home team

With such a quality squad, the Thai team played proactively in the first half and created many opportunities. They attacked the flanks a lot to take advantage of the impressive crossing ability of the two fullbacks, Sasalak and Mickelson. From such a flank situation, the Thai team took the lead. In the 44th minute, Mickelson crossed the ball extremely accurately and Ekanit Panya was there at the right time and place to tap the ball into the net, opening the score of the match.

In the second half, the Thai team maintained control of the game and actively attacked. However, a silly mistake caused them to concede an equalizer. In the 53rd minute, Sasalak's careless pass back became a beautiful assist for Ezequiel Ham to run down and face goalkeeper Khammai and score, bringing the match back to the starting line. This unexpected loss seemed to affect the Thai team's mentality.

Sasalak (2) made a mistake in Thailand's loss

The coordination between the "War Elephants" players was no longer coherent. In the final minutes, coach Ishii was forced to replace the attacking trio Suphanat - Supachai - Ekanit with Poramet - Anan - Channarong. This decision was effective. When the match entered the 90+1 minute, after a coordination between the players coming on as substitutes, Channarong fired a long-range shot.

The ball accidentally bounced out, found Channathip's position and the captain of the Thai team decisively shot from outside the penalty area, sending the ball straight into the top of the net, sealing a 2-1 victory for the "War Elephants".

Channathip scored the decisive goal for the Thai team

This result helped the Thai team win the King's Cup after 5 years of waiting. In the third-place match, the Philippines team won 3-0 against Tajikistan team.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/channathip-khang-dinh-dang-cap-sieu-sao-giup-thai-lan-vo-dich-kings-cup-2024-185241014221444878.htm