Football girls going for broke at Asiad
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The Thailand women's football team are ready to throw caution to the wind in the remaining two Group A matches in the Asian Games, starting with a game against unfancied Maldives today.
The Thai women suffered a 5-0 mauling at the hands of hosts South Korea when they embarked on their Asian Games campaign on Sunday. But with the most difficult group match out of the way, the Thais are seeking to get their tournament back on track against a weak Maldives side, who slumped to a crushing 15-0 loss to India.
“We need to win our last two matches to qualify as runners-up in the group,” said Thai coach Nuengrutai Srathongvian. “We’ll make some tactical shifts for the Maldives match.
We’ll go all out attack with a 4-4-2 formation, with Pitsamai Sornsai, Kanjana Sung Ngoen, Nisa Romyen being our options up front.
“We’ll definitely not take anything for granted because our target is to clinch second spot. We won’t risk any players who are struggling with injuries since that could affect us in later rounds.”
Assistant team manager Chanvit Pholchivin warned his side to avoid qualifying as the best third-placed team as it means they are likely to face strong opponents in the second round.
“After talking with the girls, I’m confident they have the right mentality to claim victories over Maldives and India. We need to win these two matches to ensure we finish in second spot. If we end up in third place, we could face North Korea in the next round, which would be a very difficult game,” said Chanvit.
Despite the heavy loss to South Korea, Thai FA president Worawi Makudi believes the Thais, who earlier this year made history by securing a place in the Women’s World Cup finals in Canada next year, are on the right track.
“We’re going in the right direction.
“We have applied the ‘Japan model’. Despite their small physical frame, the Japanese went on to become world champions. We have a similar build, so I think we can develop in the same way as the Japanese,” said the Thai FA boss.
