Thai women ready to test China’s mettle in opener
Coach Nuengrutai Srathongvian is confident Thailand can put on a good show against hot favourites China in their opening game of the AFC Women’s Asian Championship in Jordan tonight.
While admitting that the match against the hot favourites will be tough, Nuengrutai said the team are determined to achieve their target of qualifying for the Fifa Women’s World Cup in France next year.
The top two teams from Group A and B in the Jordan championship will qualify for next year’s finals while the two thirdplaced finishers will meet in a play-off for Asia’s last ticket.
Today’s game against China takes place at 8.45pm (Thai time) at Amman International Stadium, followed by the match between hosts Jordan and the Philippines, who are also in Group A.
Group B, which consists of Japan, Australia, South Korea and Vietnam, starts tomorrow.
“We know what we have to do and that is to finish in the top two from our group to win ticket to next year’s World Cup in France,” said Nuengrutai during a press conference in Amman yesterday.
“We know the Chinese are very strong and it will be a tough game but we’ve studied them well. We know we need to play better than before. But I believe in my team and I think everyone will do well.
“This Chinese team are good in the air and their strikers are very quick. We must be careful and try not to commit too many fouls,” she added.
Thailand have hoped to make it to the World Cup finals for the second time after their historic debut in 2015.
“Our goal is to qualify for the World Cup in France next year. This will help our development of the Thai women’s football and we hope to have a better result than we did four years ago in Canada.”
The women’s team were the first — and so far the only — Thai senior side to reach the football World Cup finals, making their debut in Canada in 2015.
After the China game, Thailand, who have been tipped as one of the favourites in the Jordan tournament, play the hosts on Monday and will conclude their Group A campaign against the Philippines three days later.
Meanwhile, team manager Nualphan Lamsam believes today’s game will be close and exciting.
“The first match against China tomorrow will be our toughest in the group stage,” said Nualphan, who is in Jordan with the squad.
“China are a good team and have developed continuously. We played them two months ago at the quadrangular tournament in China and they were very strong. Their Asian Championship squad hasn’t changed much from two months ago.”
“At the the quadrangular tournament we lost 2-1, but we’ve been preparing well for this tournament. Every player is ready and looking forward to the game,” she added.
China’s Icelandic coach Sigurdur Eyjolfsson said the opening game against Thailand is very important.
“We hope to start off the match well. We aren’t thinking about other teams and will just concentrate on the first game against Thailand. It is an important match and we hope to have three points from this game.”