Thailand Eye On Upset Win Over Aussie
There will be no compromise from the Kingdom’s side as visitors Thailand face Australia in their last World Cup Asian Qualifiers game which the host need a big margin win to gain the second slot to Russia next year.
With Japan already securing the first ticket to the Finals as pool leader, Australia and Saudi Arabia, currently tied with 16 points, are battling for the other automatic Finals berth while Thailand is already out of the competition.
The Socceroos, with two goal difference margin behind the Middle Eastern team, are poised to score as many goals as possible to beat Thailand in today’s match due at 5pm Bangkok time and hope Japan will beat Saudi Arabia due seven hours later.
But that is not the scenario national coach Milovan Rajevac has in mind. The Serbian will wish the his side to finally win after nine winless matches in this Cup qualification campaign.
“This is a very crucial game for Australia as they need a win to reach the World Cup Finals automatically. Australia are very strong team and have a better chance to win. But we will try our best get a good result. We hope to make some surprise,” said Rajevac whose side just suffered a 1-2 defeat to Iraq at home last week.
“Australian players have several strengths including the physical condition, techniques and tactics. All of them are hungry for victory. It will be difficult to predict the results. But a 2-2 draw (last November in Bangkok) between us showed we know the strengths and weaknesses of each other. The first goal is likely to decide which side will win,” said Rajevac.
Consadole Sapporo’s Chanathip Songkrasin who is taking a temporary break from J League to strengthen the Thai forward team hopes to finish this World Cup campaign with a big bang.
“We don’t know when we will be in this stage of the World Cup Qualifiers again. So we will do our best in this last game. But the pressure will be on the Australian side. I want to see Australia make the trip to Russia but hopefully that’s not going to happen tomorrow,” the national striker said.
The match will take place at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium at 5pm and can be seen live on Channel 7.
Meanwhile in Bangkok, CP Group yesterday rewarded a BT5 Million incentive money to the u-23 national team for defending their football gold medal in the 29th SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur last week.
