Asian Games football squad arrive sleeveless in South Korea

The men’s squad was among the first group of Thai athletes to arrive in Incheon, with Thai Chef de Mission Thana Chaiprasit greeting the team at the Incheon Airport early yesterday morning before they checked in at the Athletes Village and headed off for stretching exercises in the evening. 

“We want the players to get some rest as we took a night flight and some of the lads didn’t get much sleep,” said the 41-year-old Kiatisak, who guided the country to SEA Games triumph in Myanmar last year. 

The Thai side, whose best result at the quadrennial tournament is a fourth spot in 1990,1998 and 2002, are due to begin their Group E campaign against Maldives on Monday, followed by meetings with Timor Leste (September 18) and Indonesia (September 20). All of the Thais’ three group matches kick-off at 6pm, Bangkok time).

The kick-off time has become an issue after the Thais arrived without long-sleeve shirts when they are likely to play in cooler temperatures. However, former national striker Kiatisak said his men would be just fine with the conditions. 

“We learnt from Thana, who arrived a few days earlier, that the temperature would drop at night, while all of our group stage fixtures start at 8pm [local time]. 

“It’s quite cool in the evening so we need to get acclimatised to the conditions. We are unable to train at the time of evening that we will play the games – the hosts have fixed our training times at 4, 5 or 6pm.

“I don’t think it will be a problem as the temperature should not be much different. We only have short-sleeve shirts but they are tight-fitting so they give some protection against the cold,” he said.   

 

Ribery dismisses ban threat

Franck Ribery reiterated that he has retired from the French national team, dismissing threats from European football supremo Michel Platini that he could be banned from domestic matches. The Bayern Munich player Ribery said his retirement was “agreed with national team coach Didier Deschamps. “I want to fully concentrate on Bayern Munich in the future. I am sticking to my position.”

Ribery, who missed the World Cup in Brazil for injury reasons, said recently he was retiring from Les Bleus. The Uefa president Platini said that Ribery would be banned for three Munich matches if he ignored a nomination, according to rules of the governing body Fifa.