Boys in the Toyota driving seat
The national under-12 football team are pumped up to defend their title in the Toyota International Junior Cup which gets underway today in the Japanese city of Toyota.
The 24-member squad arrived a few days ago to prepare for the six team tournament which also consists of the Toyota team from Vietnam, Toyota City Training Centre, Kariya City Training Centre, Nagoya Grampus Eight FC and Ventforet Kofu FC.
Piyapong Pue-on, Director of the Toyota Junior Cup programme in Thailand, was confident his boys would again dominate in the tournament, which has a round-robin format to select the team with the best results from five games.
“It’s quite warm in this city but the boys are getting used to this type of weather. We are the doubles champion so we have no choice but to defend our title,” said the former national striker.
Each team will send eight players to compete in two sessions, each for 15 minutes. After today’s opening ceremony, Thailand will kick off their campaign against Ventforet Kofu, then Nagoya Grampus and Kariya City. The remaining two games are due on Sunday.
However Piyapong was concerned about the inexperience of his team this will be their first time representing the country.
“They are strong and talented but I’m not sure how much they will be able to cope with their nerves,” he said. “I hope they will feel more confident after the first game.”
