Thailand's World Cup hopes in balance
Thailand had to wait to discover whether they could reach the knockout phase of the Fifa Futsal World Cup for the first time or not after falling to a narrow 3-2 loss to Paraguay in their final Group A match at Hua Mark Indoor stadium yesterday.
The result helped the South American team follow Ukraine, who finished atop of the group with seven points from three matches following an emphatic 6-1 victory over Costa Rica, into the last-16 round, while the hosts were left in the third spot.
It meant the Thai side still had the opportunity to qualify as one of the best third-placed teams in the 24-team tournament but they now needed other results going in their favour.
Thailand were outclassed in the first half in the previous match against Ukraine, who scored five goals without replay before the hosts rallied after the interval in a 5-3 defeat. They made a poor start yet again against the Paraguayans, who raced into 3-0 lead within the opening ten minutes.
Suphawut Thueanklang and Jetsada Chudech helped the hosts back into the game but they failed to find an equaliser that would be enough to earn the second place despite laying siege on Paraguay’s goal in the closing stages.
