Buriram place faith in Thai players for crunch AFC clash

The Thai Premier League club lost out to a freak goal in Tehran last month when an early attempted cross by the Iranian champions went in off the far post at the intimidating Azadi stadium.

But Buriram, the first Thai club in a decade to reach the knockout phase of the competition, reinforced their belief they could make it to the last four with a gritty performance against the Iranians. 

The second leg at home against Esteghlal could not have come at a better time for Buriram, who are on a five-match winning streak in the league and domestic cup, while the Iranians have managed only one win in four league matches since the first leg.

While the side now has a Spanish flavour with the appointment of Alejandro Menendez Garcia as coach earlier this month, 2011 Thai Premier League champions Buriram are relying on home talent to turn around the quarter-final tie.

“We’ll use 10 Thai players, just as we did in our league match against BEC Tero Sasana on Saturday [Buriram won 2-0]. We want to prove that Thai players are not inferior to anyone. We also want to show the national team how to play Iran in the Asian Cup qualifiers next month,” Buriram United president Newin Chidchob said on the eve of the game. “There’s no choice but to win the match tomorrow. We are second to none when we play in front of our own fans, who have always been the ‘12th player’ for us.”

With Spanish striker Javier Patino not fully fit and his compatriot Jesus Berrocal expected to be dropped to the bench, the team’s other Spaniard, Osmar Ibanez, who has marshalled the Buriram defence superbly during the club’s second successive campaign in Asia’s elite club competition, is likely to be the lone foreigner in the Buriram ranks.

Former Santander manager Garcia, who has been reunited with centre-back Ibanez after coaching him at the Spanish club, is confident his new charges can book their place in the semi-finals. The manager has been further buoyed by the return of Thailand left-back Theerathon Bunmathan, who was suspended for the first leg.

“We’re confident of reaching the semi-finals despite being at a disadvantage after the first-leg result. But every player in the team is determined to secure a win tomorrow.

“We have prepared well for the match and that convinces us that we can win the tie in 90 minutes. Theerathon is back from suspension, which will make our attack more efficient,” said the 47-year-old Garcia.

StarSports channel will televise the match live from 6pm.