Thais focusing on attack ahead of UAE qualifier
Thailand coach Kiatisak Senamuang is focusing on his team’s attack ahead of their World Cup qualifier against the United Arab Emirates next week.
Thailand need a result when they meet the UAE in Abu Dhabi on Oct 6 to keep alive their World Cup dream. Kiatisak’s men lost their first two games in Group B of Asia’s final qualifying round for the 2018 Fifa World Cup.
“We need more attacking options and will train more in attacking,’’ said Kiatisak whose men are training in Abu Dhabi.
“It will not be easy against the UAE. They have good players and are playing at home. We have to get rid of our weak points.
“We want our players to play well in both defence and attack. Everybody knows that playing at the Asian level, you can’t make many mistakes.”
Midfielder Chanathip Songkrasin said he was confident that the team will get at least a point against the UAE.
After two matches, Australia and Saudi Arabia have six points each, Japan and the UAE three each, and Thailand and Iraq zero.
Iran, South Korea, Uzbekistan, Qatar, China and Syria are drawn in Group A.
The top two teams of each group earn tickets to Russia 2018. The two third-placed sides meet in a play-off with the winners facing a Concacaf team for another berth.
EXTRA REFEREES
Asia’s football body has announced it would use extra referees to help stamp out goalmouth controversies in its top competitions, falling into line with Europe.
The additional assistant referees will patrol each goal area, helping out with the goal line, penalty and offside decisions that can be critical to a game’s outcome.
They will be used from the quarter-finals of next year’s AFC Champions League and AFC Cup, and also at the national-level Asian Cup in the UAE in 2019.
An Asian Football Confederation statement said the assistants would “give referees additional support when a decision has to be taken around the penalty area, to help make decisions on the goal line and assist in making offside decisions”.
It follows a steady flow of incidents, including Japan’s disallowed goal in this month’s 2-1 World Cup qualifying loss to the UAE, when the ball clearly crossed the line.
Competitions organised by European body Uefa already have extra referees watching the goal, and World Cups and European Championships also employ goal line technology.
The AFC’s referees committee, meeting in Goa, also recommended introducing referee coaches for officials dealing with the ongoing 2018 World Cup qualifiers.