Odds against Thailand as they take on Jordan
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Buoyant Thailand, who have a winless record against Jordan, have to overcome the odds to reach the semi-finals of the men's football competition when the two sides meet in the quarter-final today.
The Kingdom, coached by former national striker Kiatisak Senamuang, have enjoyed a stellar campaign at the Games so far, winning all four of their matches without conceding a goal on the way to the quarter-final tie against the team from Middle East.
The Thais’ confidence level went through the roof after defeating a lacklustre China 2-0 in the previous round, thanks to a second-half brace from in-form forward Adisak Kraisorn.
The 41-year-old coach Kiatisak, affectionately called “Zico” by fans and the media, led his players for a jog around the athlete’s village on the eve of the match instead of taking them to the ground for training.
Despite the team’s confidence being sky high, he warned against complacency when they take on Jordan, who scrapped through to the last eight by beating Kyrgyzstan on penalties after a goalless draw.
“I’ve done a good deal of work in studying the Jordanian team,” Kiatisak said. “They’re a typical Arab team, which has good individual ability. However, my team has faced Arab sides before and there’s no doubt we could compete with them.
“But this Jordan side is different from the previous teams we have seen before. They don’t press hard in the midfield and they seem to stay in the fight. If the game goes into extra time, I believe our players have enough energy because we beat China within 90 minutes while Jordan played for two hours in the previous round.”
Kiatisak dismissed suggestions that his players would have an edge over Jordan, who have field their pre-Olympic side at the Games.
“Jordan have a good structure, starting at youth level,” he said. “We definitely can’t write them off. And I think the fact they used the pre-Olympic team will make them become even more determined.
“We faced Qatar, which also used their pre-Olympic team, in our warm-up match in Phuket and they showed strong determination and were a handful. Anyway, after having come this far we will give it all tomorrow [today] and we’re lucky there’s no new injury among our players.”
The Thai coach, who guided his side to the SEA Games title at the end of last year, is not concerned about the fact that the Jordan match will kick-off in the afternoon (2pm Korean time) after Thailand played all their previous games in the evening.
“If we have to play at 2pm in Thailand, it certainly would be a problem. But the weather here is mild, so there should not by any problem,” he said. The NBT Channel will televise the match live from midday Thailand time.
