Worawi gives beaten soccer queens Bt100,000 for effort
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Despite a crushing 5-0 loss to hosts South Korea in the opening match of the Asian Games women's football competition, Thailand showed enough promise to win over Thai FA president Worawi Makudi, who rewarded them with Bt100,000.
The Thai side, featuring most of the players that made history by securing a berth in the Women’s World Cup finals for the first time earlier this year, offered little resistance against the Koreans.
The result was predictable, coming as it did against one of the continent’s top teams, but Thai FA boss Worawi was impressed enough by the team’s efforts to open both his heart and his wallet.
“It’s disappointing that we gave away goals so easily in the first half, [but] we fared better in the second half. The association had planned to give the team Bt200,000 if they won the match.
“But, for the players efforts, we decided to hand them Bt100,000 as consolation,” said the 62-year-old Worawi, who attended the game at the Namdong Asiad Rugby Field stadium.
Thai coach Nuengrutai Srathongvian said her side needed to learn quickly as they had paid a heavy price for small mistakes.
“We learned a lot from the game, especially in defending. At continental level, small errors at the back result in goals conceded. We must not commit those sort of mistakes.
“We weren’t totally satisfied with the outcome as we shouldn’t have let in so many goals. Nevertheless, this South Korea side is different from the one we met in the recent Asian Championship.
“Their passing was accurate and very quick. So we need to address our problems and try to redeem ourselves in the remaining two games,” said Nuengrutai, whose side next face Maldives in their second Group A match tomorrow.
