Teerasil nearing another milestone of stellar career
National captain Teerasil Dangda is closing in on another personal milestone as the Muangthong United striker needs just one more goal in Thursday’s semifinal second leg at home to Myanmar to reach a 15-goal mark as the country’s joint top scorer in the Asean Football Championship.
Teerasil grabbed both goals in the Kingdom’s 2-0 first leg victory in Yangon at the weekend that put the defending champions in driving seat to qualify for the final of the biennial tournament for the second consecutive time.
The sublime brace the 28-year-old scored at the packed Thuwanna Stadium lifted him to the runner-up spot on 14 goals in the country’s all-time leading scorer list at the regional championship, one short of the record tally held by former hitman Worawut Srimaka.
However, should Teerasil find the target at Rajamangala National Stadium again against 166th-ranked Myanmar, who made the last four for the first time since 2004, it would be faster than Worawut.
It took Worawut 10 games between 1996 and 2002, during which he helped Thailand win the regional crown three times, to set the record but Thursday’s fixture would be Teerasil’s ninth appearance in the tournament where he is yet to taste success during his seven-year international career.
Teerasil, currently leading the event’s scoring charts with five goals, is also on course to at least equal the record for the most goals scored in a single tournament set by another ex-national striker Natipong Sritongin in 1996 when the player, fondly called as “Alfred” by fans and media alike, netted seven times.
If Thailand managed to avoid an upset of massive proportion on Thursday to reach the home-and-away title showdown with either Vietnam or Indonesia later this month, few would bet against Teerasil achieving both milestones of his stellar career.
