India outclassed us, says sacked Thailand coach

ABUDHABI: Thailand have sacked their head coach Milovan Rajevac after the humiliating 1-4 loss to India in Asian Cup. The Serb, however, was effusive in his praise for the Stephen Constantine-coached side.

Rajevac, who was sacked by Football Association of Thailand on Monday, said India thoroughly deserved to take all three points. “They (India) absolutely deserved to win the match. For us, the first half was mostly okay, even though we conceded the opening goal after a corner of our own. In the second period, India were more aggressive, and they clearly wanted the victory,” Rajevac said.

“We underperformed after the break. At the start of the second half we conceded an early goal which forced us to open up a little as we tried to find an equaliser. The real problem for us was that we did not have a response to India’s aggressive style of play.”

The Serbian, who took Ghana to the quarter-finals of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, was appointed Thailand head coach in April 2017. But recent failures in the 2018 ASEAN Football Federation Cup, where the five-time champions crashed out after losing to Malaysia, caused an uproar.

Rajevac’s assistant Sirisak Yodyardthai will take over as interim coach for the rest of the tournament.

CHINA, S KOREA WIN

ABU DHABI: A spectacular goalkeeping blunder helped Marcello Lippi’s China avoid a humiliating defeat as they rallied to beat minnows Kyrgyzstan 2-1 at the Asian Cup on Monday.

Kyrgyzstan led 1-0 at halftime in the Group C game after Akhlidin Israilov’s strike. But Kyrgyz goalkeeper Pavel Matiash committed a howler when he palmed the ball into his own net shortly after half-time, before Yu Dabao grabbed the winner 12 mins before the end. In another Group C match, Hwang Ui-jo snatched a second-half winner as South Korea beat Philippines 1-0.

In Group D, Iran routed Yemen 5-0 with Mehdi Taremi (2), Saoud Al Sowadi, Sardar Azmoun and Saman Ghoddos scoring.