Schaefer keeps job amid rumours of bad blood
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Football Association of Thailand president Worawi Makudi confirmed that Winfried Schaefer will keep his job as national coach even though he failed to guide his charges to their fourth Asean Championship title.
Schaefer’s men were unable to reclaim the title they last won in 2002 despite clinching a 1-0 home victory in the second leg of the final on Saturday, going down 32 on aggregate to Singapore, who became the first side to win the event four times.
It was a case of deja vu for Thailand, who lost to the Singaporeans by the same margin last time the two sides met in the final, five years ago. The Thais’ latest failure led to speculation over the future of the 62-year-old German, who still has one and a half years to run on his current contract.
Worawi, however, dismissed suggestions that Schaefer’s job was in danger, saying he would remain in charge of the team for Asian Cup qualifying early next year.
“We have the opening two Asian Cup qualifiers coming up on February 6 at home to Kuwait and March 22 in Lebanon. I can confirm he [Schaefer] will take charge of the team for those two games.
“We’ll have a board meeting early next year to assess the team’s performance. But that doesn’t mean Schaefer will get the sack. He has already planned for our Asian Cup qualifying campaign, so he will definitely stay until his contract expires in mid 2014,” said Worawi.
However, a source at the Thai FA revealed that Worawi and Schaefer, who has revived the team’s fortunes since taking the national post last year, have not seen eye to eye for some time now.
“They used to work well with each other,” said an FAT official, on con
