South Korean defeat rankles coach Kiatisak
Play
Sunday’s 1-0 friendly defeat at home to 2015 Asian Cup finalists South Korea might seem a respectable outcome for a team languishing in 118th spot in the Fifa’s rankings but national coach Kiatisak Senamuang insisted he was not happy with the result.
Kiatisak’s side was undone by Suk Hyun-jun’s early strike in the fixture at Supachalasai Stadium, which came just little over 30 hours after they arrived home from Iran following a 2-2 draw with Iraq that booked them a berth in the third round of Asian qualifying for the 2018 World Cup.
Kiatisak, a former national striker, tried to put things in perspective after the narrow defeat against the Koreans, who sit 61 places above them in the 57th spot in the ranking table.
“I’m sorry for our fans but the Koreans are a very strong team. However, they spent only three or four hours in coming here, while it took us 15 to 20 hours to get back home. We had no rest and it was something beyond our control.
Kiatisak made several changes to the side that drew with Iraq but he denied suggestions that he threw some “fresh” faces at the deep end of action against the Koreans.
“I gave opportunity to several players today, particularly the three in midfield; Sanrawat Dechmitr, Jakkapan Kaewprom and Prakit Deeporm. But, I absolutely had no intention to send them to get beaten. Everyone wanted to play against the Koreans.
“We need to toughen up. I told the lads if we get a draw it would be like a win. If we lost by one or two goals, it would be acceptable. But, should we go down by three or four, it would be unacceptable for our fans. So, losing 1-0, was a satisfactory result for everyone. But, as a coach, I’m not happy.”
The Thai coach also said the Korean game gave his players an opportunity to sample what was to come in the last 12-team round of the World Cup qualifiers that will get underway in September.
“Today, we saw our weaknesses. It made us realise where we stand at the moment. We’re the lowestranked team in the last-12 stage. We’ll not fool ourselves. We hope to perform well. Today, we got the lessons. We need to get stronger, physically.
“As for the team’s preparations, I had a talk with the association [Thai FA]. We need to invite clubs to join the discussion, particularly about the way we prepare the team for “Fifa Day” matches in order to have less impact on the clubs,” he said.
