Singapore are a big threat, says coach Kiatisak
National coach Kiatisak Senamuang is wary of threat posed by a youthful Singapore but remains confident his players have what it take to slay the “Lions” in their second match of Group A in the Asean Football Championship in the Philippines on Tuesday.
The fixture at the Philippines Sport Stadium in Manila pits the tournament’s joint most successful countries against each other. It also marks a renewal of rivalry between Kiatisak and his opposite number V Sundramoorthy, who he regularly met on the pitch during his playing days back in the 90s.
Heading into the game, the Kingdom, who won their fourth title two years ago to match Singapore, are in a better situation after beating Indonesia 4-2 in Saturday’s group opener to top the table. The Singaporeans, meanwhile, had to settle for a goalless draw with the Philippines.
While looking forward to pitting his wits against familiar rival in opposite dugout, the former national striker Kiatisak reckoned the already-tricky tie against Singapore was made even more difficult by the fact that the Lions are desperate to make up for their disappointing start to the campaign.
“Tomorrow we will play an entertaining game. I have known Sundram since our playing days and now we're both coaches here. It will be a hard game because Singapore have only one point and they will fight,” Kiatisak told a pre-match conference at Novotel Manila Araneta hotel yesterday.
“I know Sundram, Sundram knows me, we will see tomorrow. Yes we saw that Singapore are strong defensively, but we will do our best.”
Singapore’s resilient display helped them avoid defeat against the Philippines despite playing almost an hour with 10 men and the Thai coach warned his men against complacency against the opponents who last won the title in 2012.
“They managed to claim a draw [against the Philippines] with 10 men so we can’t underestimate them. They possibly could give it 120 per cent against us.
“They’re good in the air. If we are able to cope with that, we will have a good chance of beating them. Should we play like we did against Australia [in a World Cup qualifier last week], we could go through to the next round,” said Kiatisak, whose side will virtually guarantee a place in the semi-finals of the biennial tournament with a win.
The Thai coach was adamant that his players will find a way to get past Singapore’s goalkeeper Hassan Sunny, whose string of saves earned the Lions the share of spoils with the Filipinos.
“He [Sunny] simply does his duty for the national team. We cannot pay attention to a single player. We need to look at them as a team. Tomorrow, if we stick to our game plan, we should be able to earn points,” he said.
Kiatisak has every reason to be optimistic about his team’s chances of breaching the Singapore defence, given the scoring exploits of captain Teerasil Dangda, whose hat-trick against Indonesia put the 28-year-old level with his coach on 12 goals as the country’s joint second highest scorer in the tournament. Worawut Srimaka holds the record with 15.
