Thailand's World Cup hopes still alive

The Thais’ chances of qualification would have been all but over if the second-placed Saudis had overcome Oman at home.  The stalemate in Riyadh which came after Thailand’s 1-0 home loss to leaders Australia earlier on the day set a stage for frantic finale to the group campaign, with three sides vying for the remaining qualification spot in the final round of Group D fixtures.
Thailand lying in bottom place with four points from five matches need to win in Oman in February and hope the other result goes their way if they are to follow Australia into the next round.
The Thais could not ask for more than to remain in the contention for the qualification after a narrow loss to Australia at the packed Supachalasai stadium left elimination staring on their faces.  
The atmosphere resembled a European club football match as Thai fans flocked into the venue to support their team claim a point at least to keep alive their chances of qualification, creating a truly cracking atmosphere which had disappeared from the old stadium for periods.
The Thai side proved the ranking was irrelevant on the pitch as they gave themselves a good account against the opponents ranked as high as the 20th in the world with a battling display, restricting the visitors to only few scoring chances.
Despite limited opportunities, the Australians made the Thais pay a costly price by making the most from a handful of chances they got with the only goal of the game through Brett Holman’s headed effort, which left elimination staring on the Thais’ face.
After watching the Australians stretched to their limits by his charges just like in the first meeting in Brisbane in September when the Socceroos had to come from behind to claim a hard-fought 2-1 victory, the 61-year-old Schaefer was satisfied with his side’s performance.
“I wanted to thank everyone of my team for putting on such strong showing over 90 minutes. The only thing we lacked is the goal. I’m happy that we played well against the 20th-ranked team.
“The only difference is that they made their chances count, while we failed to do that. It’s a pity that we did not score any point from this game,” said Schaefer, who has transformed the team from a disjointed unit under his predecessor Bryan Robson.
Despite the loss, which left his charges on the brink of elimination, the former Cameroon manager believed a bright future was lying ahead of the Thai team.
“Judging from our performance today, we can see that if the team have much more time training together we could become a really good side.  I think we can succeed in the future. The players have ability to achieve their targets.
“Had only we had claimed maximum points against the Saudis at home, the chances would have become more open for us. It’s very good that we had a chance to train together over the past two weeks.
“Now, I want the players to continue working hard when returning to their clubs in order to further improve themselves. If we keep doing our work, we would achieve our goal. Anyway, the final game away to Oman is still important and we need to get the best possible result,” said the German, who just took over the post in July.