FAT chief urges huge turnout for Indonesia game
FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION of Thailand president Somyot Poompanmoung has called for a huge local turnout for the AFF Suzuki Cup between Thailand and Indonesia as up to 5,000 Garuda fans are expected to show support for their players at the Rajamangala National Stadium on Saturday.
The Thai FA boss stopped by at the Le Meridian Suvarnabhumi Hotel yesterday to visit the team who will play their second-round game on November 17 at 6.30pm.
Somyot said the Indonesian FA had increased their demand for tickets from 3,000 to 5,000, which prompted him to urge Thai fans to show up at the stadium this weekend in huge numbers.
Meanwhile, Nurul Sriyankem is poised to create more opportunities for Thailand against Indonesia. The 26-year-old winger from Phattalung province assisted twice for two of the six goals produced by Adisak Kraisorn in the previous game won by Thailand 7-0 at the same venue last Friday.
The Port FC player, a member of the 2014 AFF Cup winning team, predicted a tougher time against Indonesia and hoped to provide more assistance to his teammates to score.
“Indonesia are coming up against us with a defeat [to Singapore 0-1] so they wouldn’t want another loss,” said Nurul, who was part of the 2014 SEA Games gold-medal team.
“Indonesia always give us a hard time whenever we play. So I expect an even tougher match against them,” added the midfielder. “We need to go into the match with a good game plan.”
On Tuesday evening, Thailand beat Thai League 3’s Kasem Bundit University 4-0 in a private friendly at the Windmill Football Club.
