Defeat a golden chance to clean up the system

After going unbeaten in an impressive run to the final of the biennial tournament, the Thai side, coached by the hard-working trainer Winfried Schaefer, stumbled at the last hurdle as the 3-1 first leg deficit proved just too big to overcome.

It hardly got any worse for the Thai team to end what otherwise was another disappointing year. The defeat to Singapore, a side tied with them on three title wins, not only prolonged their barren spell but also confirmed they were no longer the frontrunners in the region. The men from the Lion City/State deservedly clinched a record fourth title.

It also means that the Thais are yet to get one over Singapore in their two meetings in the finals of the tournament now known as Suzuki Cup. The Kingdom, whose last triumph came in 2002, also fell to a narrow 3-2 aggregate defeat in 2007.

Can the result be interpreted that Thailand have made no progress in the last five years, that they are not able to defeat a team once regarded as rank outsiders? Unfortunately, a majority of Thai fans think so and it is no coincidence that the team’s dramatic decline started when Worawi Makudi became the Thai FA boss.

Actually, Thailand have won nothing more than the SEA Games title in Nakhon Ratchasima since Worawi’s much-criticised reign started five years ago and things came to full circle with another loss to Singapore in the final. More worryingly, the pundits even said that we have already overachieved by finishing as the second best team this time given the relatively poor preparations for the eight-team finals in comparison to other rivals.

If not for Schaefer’s magic touch to get the best out of his charges, the Thai side would have suffered the same fate as two years ago when they exited from the competition at the group stages without a single win. 

The veteran German coach made no attempt to disguise his disappointment with Thai FA’s preparation plan as he reacted with gasps of exasperation when asked how he felt his side only faced lowly opponents such as Bhutan and Bangladesh in the run up to the championship.

Schaefer even admitted on the eve of the first leg final in the city state midweek that he was uncertain whether his team would come this far when he took the first training session for the event at the beginning of last month. 

The fact that the Thai side did not see any action for seven months after they went out of the third round of the World Cup qualifiers at the end of February further highlights the poor team management under Worawi’s leadership.

If Thailand had managed to turn things around and clinched the elusive title no one could have been happier than Worawi, who also sits on the Fifa’s powerful executive committee, as the title victory would certainly help silence, temporarily at least, the growing criticism against him. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

The under-fire FAT president, instead, found himself come under the microscope following the team’s another failed tilt at the title. It remained to be seen whether the latest failure would put a final nail in Worawi’s coffin.

With Worawi’s third term ending next year, many fans, who have become more and more disillusioned with his management, are keeping their fingers crossed that the turn of the year would bring winds of change to Thai football.