Thailand suffer losing start
Thailand's attempt to qualify for the Asian Cup 2015 finals suffered an early setback following a 3-1 loss at home to Kuwait in their opening Group B match at Rajamangala National stadium yesterday.
The home side were outplayed in the first half and fell behind when forward Bader Al Mutwa calmly stroked the ball past advancing Thai keeper. After the interval, the hosts looked the better team but found themselves further behind defender Hussain Fadhel sent a bullet header from the right-side freekick into the back of the net.
The game effectively ended as a contest when substitute Hamad Aman scored after just coming off the bench to make it 3-0 before the Thais were given a glimmer of hope when diminutive Chanathip Songkrasin’s low long-range striker went inside the keeper’s right-hand post.
The loss left the Thai side one place from the bottom after Iran thrashed Lebanon 5-0 in the group’s other match. They face a trip to Lebanon next month in a match they now can ill afford for another slip-up if they are to keep alive their qualification hopes.
