Thailand target result at Malaysia in AFF Cup
Coach ‘will take home crowd out of contest’
Defending champions Thailand have vowed to attack Malaysia and silence the home crowd at Kuala Lumpur’s Bukit Jalil National Stadium in the semi-final first leg of the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup tonight.
Thailand won’t be on the back foot, even on the road, as they aim to set up a lead that they can then finish at home next week, according to coach Mano Polking.
The second leg will take place at Thammasat Stadium on Tuesday.
The winners of the tie will meet Vietnam or Indonesia in a two-legged final.
“I want to make it clear that we have not come to defend or move away from the way that we’ve played but rather we will play to our strengths, and try to have the ball and control the game,” Polking told a press conference yesterday.
The only non-Korean coach amongst the four semi-finalists, the German-Brazilian boss also stressed that, with the limited time between matches, mental strength is a key element at the pointy end of the tournament.
“We need to try and take the crowd out of the game and be strong mentally because that is often what decides semi-finals and finals,” Polking said.
“These kind of games are decided on details and controlling the crowd is an important part of that because if we make an early mistake then that can help the crowd to damage us and then things can get out of control so we have a clear plan about how to stop that and also show our strengths to get a result where we can decide things at home.”
Thailand defender Sasalak Haiprakhon said: “We are ready and looking forward to the match. We had a plan for this game before coming here.”
All 59,000 tickets were sold out in less than a day and Malaysia coach Kim Pan-Gon knows just how important that atmosphere will help push the Harimau Malaya past the sixtime champions.
“We want to play well again in front of our home fans,” he said.
“Every player is excited to be here
and we want to take full use of our home advantage.”
The Korean mentor also stressed that although the hosts have the upmost respect for the War Elephants, that doesn’t mean they’ll let them dictate proceedings.
“We must fully respect what they’ve
done over the past few years and especially as the defending champions, but we will play with full power, show our Malaysian DNA, and take full advantage of our characteristics.
“The analysis on Thailand is already done and the players in Malaysia are so smart and adaptable that when we
explain something they quickly grasp it, so everything is prepared and now we just need to perform.”
FIXTURE
(semi-final, first leg)
At Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia v Thailand (7.30pm, Thai time)