Muang Thong seek draw away at Ulsan
Thai League 1 champions SCG Muang Thong United yesterday made no effort to camouflage their intentions of aiming for a draw in their third Group E match of the AFC Champions League (ACL) against South Korean side Ulsan Hyundai today.
The Kirins currently lead the group with four points after drawing with Brisbane Roar away and defeating J-League champions Kashima Antlers 2-1 in the previous match at Supachalasai Stadium.
Kashima and Ulsan each have three points while Brisbane have one.
Muang Thong coach Totchtawan Sripan said: “This is an important match for our team. Ulsan are another strong team but we want to get a point from this match.
“People readily tagged us as underdogs for our past two matches, but we are the leaders of the group now. We just hope to retain that status and keep our performance consistent.
“We have played four matches in the past 10 days. The programme has been tough on our team. We have tried to manage things by rotating players and hopefully we have found some sort of balance for our Thai league and ACL commitments.
“We have studied Ulsan’s games. We have two players who were in the K-League [Lee Ho and Celio Santos], so we have done our homework for the game.”
Muang Thong striker Mongkol Totsakrai added: “We will try our best to produce a good result. We are hoping for at least a draw as it will improve our chances of qualifying for the next round.
“The weather is different here and our fitness level is not as good as it should be, but we are now used to taking on players from other Asian countries and know their styles.”
The match will kick off at 5.30pm (Thai time) and will be live on Fox Sports.
Meanwhile, Si Sa Ket, playing under caretaker coach Suriyan Jamjang, lost 2-1 to Chonburi in their Thai League 1 clash on Sunday night.
Hosts Si Sa Ket were put ahead by Leroy Lita, but a second-half brace from the Sharks’ Renan Marquez meant the Koupreys stay put among the bottom three.
At Bang Plee, Super Power Samut Prakan remained pinned to the foot of the table after a 3-1 loss to Pattaya United.
Anthony Komenan gave Super Power a 1-0 lead in the 10th minute, but Pattaya got three goals from Surachate Ngarm-thip (23rd), Milos Stojanovic (73rd) and Peeradon Chumratsamee in injury time.