Chiang Rai, Ratchaburi in semis
Thai League 1 sides Chiang Rai United and Ratchaburi FC reached the Toyota League Cup semi-finals, taking contrasting routes on Wednesday night.
While Chiang Rai looked a notch above Ubon UMT United at home in their 4-1 victory, Ratchaburi struggled to beat Sukhothai 1-0 in the other quarter-final.
They joined SCG Muang Thong United, who defeated arch-rivals Buriram United 2-0, and Police Tero, who pipped secondtier Air Force Central 1-0, in the early games on Wednesday, in the semi-finals.
The official draw for the semi-finals will be held on Oct 17 with the matches being played on Nov 4.
Chiang Rai looked comfortable from the start at their United Stadium as Ubon UMT struggled to find their rhythm.
The hosts had the possession for long periods in the first half and were given the lead in the 43rd minute when Piyaphol Panitchakul headed the ball into the net.
Chiang Rai remained in control in the second half and it took them only five minutes to double their advantage when Jandson dos Santos added to their tally.
Before Ubon UMT had the time to recover from the second blow, Chiang Rai put the match out their reach as Felipe Azevedo stretched their lead to 3-0.
Ubon UMT had their only moment of glory in the 63rd minute when Kenta Yamasaki picked up their sole goal of the match.
Chiang Rai were not willing to lift the foot off the pedal and Suriya Singmui set up Azevedo with a nifty pass to score his second goal of the night.
He restored the home team’s threegoal upper hand, which they maintained to the end.
Chiang Rai coach Alexandre Gama said after the game: “At the beginning of the match, we missed several chances.
“We were lucky that we got a goal towards the end of the first half and then scored another very early in the second half. That put the match firmly in our hands.
“Every player did very well today. We have qualified for the next round and with that we have achieved our target for this tournament.”
Ubon UMT coach Scott Cooper said: “We were not inferior to Chiang Rai at all tonight.
“We had our chances but we couldn’t score, which cost us the match.
“Everyone is disappointed that we couldn’t make it to the semi-finals.”
In the other late match at Mitr Phol Stadium, hosts Ratchaburi netted the winning goal in the 33rd minute through Frenchborn Moroccan Alharbi El Jadeyaoui to edge Sukhothai out of the event.