Thailand '99% sure' of advancing
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Thailand's futsal team coach Victor Hermans is extremely confident of his side's chances of making it to the knockout phase of the Futsal World Cup, rating them 99 per cent.
The hosts have to wait to learn whether they will advance as one of the best thirdplaced teams in the 24team tournament, after going down 32 to Paraguay in their final Group A match at Hua Mark Indoor stadium on Wednesday. Their second groupstage defeat left them in third spot with three points from three matches, narrowly ahead of Costa Rica on goal difference.
Thailand, who suffered groupstage exits in their previous three campaigns, must now hope that other results go in their favour. If they do squeeze into the last16 knockout phase, a daunting hurdle likely awaits in the form of fourtime champions Brazil.
The Thai side would have found themselves in a far more comfortable situation had they managed to claim a draw against the Paraguayans, which would have helped them follow Ukraine into the last16.
Dutchman Hermans defended his decision not to use “power play” tactics – replacing the keeper with an outfield player – during the closing stages against Paraguay. It would have been too risky against a South American team adept at counterattacking, explained the Thailand coach, who led his charges to a runnersup spot in the Asian Championship earlier this year.
“In those final two minutes against Paraguay, we didn’t want to take a risk with the power play. I checked the result in the group’s other match and believe we should finish at least in third spot. [But] I definitely was disappointed with the result.
“I think we have a 99percent chance of qualifying for the next round. If we do make it through, we would have Kritsada [Wongkaeo] available again after his suspension against Paraguay, while Suphawut [Thueanklang] would be in better shape after struggling with a muscle injury. Given the choice of facing either Brazil or Iran in the next stage, I would opt for the latter since we know them better,” said Hermans.
