Is Thailand afraid of artificial turf?
According to Siamsport, during meetings with Thai players in preparation for the first leg of the AFF Cup 2024 semi-final against the Philippines at Rizal Memorial Stadium, many players of the "War Elephants" expressed their frustration at having to play on artificial turf. Player Thitathorn Aksornsri lamented: "Currently, very few countries use artificial turf to compete in official tournaments. We have to practice to adjust everything, from passing, dribbling... Playing on artificial turf is different and quite difficult."
The Thai team is ready for the match against the Philippines on artificial turf.
Not only Thailand fell into this situation, the Vietnamese team also went through a difficult match on the artificial turf field of Rizal Memorial on December 18, struggling until the 90+7 minute of extra time to equalize 1-1 against the Philippines thanks to player Doan Ngoc Tan. Up to now, the Philippines has played 2 matches at Rizal Memorial Stadium at the AFF Cup 2024, both of which ended in a 1-1 draw, before the match against Vietnam was a draw with Myanmar.
Despite having the advantage of artificial turf, the Philippines did not receive much support from home fans when playing at Rizal Memorial Stadium. According to statistics from the AFF Cup, in total, after 2 matches in the group stage, coach Albert Capellas and his team only had about 4,935 fans coming to the stadium to support them. Specifically, the match against Myanmar had 1,589 spectators, while the match against Vietnam had 3,346 spectators.
"Coach Masatada Ishii's players must overcome difficulties when playing on artificial turf. An easy victory is appropriate, without any unfortunate injuries, to create an advantage when returning home to play the second leg," Siamsport emphasized.
Two stars from Japan will play for Thailand?
Before the AFF Cup semi-finals, the Thai team no longer had a situation where some players had to return to their clubs and then return to the team, as in the case of the three players Suphanat Mueanta, Pansa Hemviboon and Seksan Ratree. These players kept their commitment to play until the end of the tournament.
Coach Masatada Ishii was clearly upset. He said that the three players' return to the club was a tacit agreement between the Football Association of Thailand (FAT) and the club. He himself was unaware of the incident, and the 57-year-old Japanese coach was only informed after the incident. "This is not good. I hope this will not happen again," said Coach Ishii.
Thailand now has a full 26-man squad for the semi-finals, with two Japanese stars, midfielder Supachok Sarachat and Ekanit Panya, expected to be in contention for the knockout stages.
However, only Supachok Sarachat is ready as he is physically fit, while Ekanit Panya has not fully recovered from his injury. In addition, Thailand will have the return of midfielder Ben Davis (who played extremely well in the opening match against Timor Lester with a score of 10-0). Besides, Suphanat Mueanta, after returning to the club, has also been given a rest in recent days and is in good shape for the semi-finals.
The Philippines side is without defender Amani Aguinaldo due to a penalty card, this is the player who caused Indonesian captain Muhammad Ferarri to receive a red card in the decisive match of the final group stage (the Philippines won 1-0).
Watch ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup 2024 live & in full on FPT Play, at: http://fptplay.vn
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/lich-thi-dau-ban-ket-aff-cup-moi-nhat-thai-lan-quyet-thang-thuyet-phuc-philippines-185241225215423346.htm
Comment (0)