Ready for war
Thailand face Singapore in key Suzuki Cup clash
The old friendly rivalry between two famous coaches will take on a different guise when defending champions Thailand and Singapore clash in a high-stake game at the 2016 AFF Suzuki Cup in Manila today.
Thailand coach Kiatisak Senamuang will be hoping that his men follow a 4-2 victory over Indonesia in their opening Group A match with another win which will seal their place in the semi-finals.
Singapore coach V Sundramoorthy, who regularly met Kiatisak on the pitch during their playing days in the 1990s, will be plotting a coup of his own against the title-favourites Thais, knowing full well that his side cannot afford a slip-up.
The Lions did well to hold the Philippines scoreless as they lost Hafiz Sujad to a red card 10 minutes before the break.
Thailand and Singapore are the two most successful nations in the Southeast Asian championship, having won the event four times each.
The match, which promises a fair amount of fireworks given the high stakes, kicks off at 3:30pm (Thai time) at Philippines Sports Stadium and will be televised live by Channel 7.
“We will play an entertaining game. I have known Sundram since our playing days and now we’re both coaches here. It will be a hard game because Singapore have only one point and they will fight,” said Kiatisak, a former national team striker.
“I know Sundram, Sundram knows me, we will see tomorrow. Yes, we saw that Singapore are strong defensively, but we will do our best,” he added at yesterday’s press conference featuring all four Group A coaches.
The Thai coach, however, intends to rest some of his players due to fatigue from last week’s World Cup qualifier against Australia and the Indonesia game on Saturday.
Injured right wing-back Tristan Do continues to be a worry for Kiatisak, who said: “We have to check on Tristan to see if he can play against Singapore, otherwise we will bring in either Sarawut Masuk or Adisorn Promrak in his place.
“We are quite worried about the fitness of our players. The Singaporeans seem to have good fitness.
“In their first game with the Philippines, they kept changing their tactics, but we will be prepared for that. Their defence was impressive on Saturday.”
With the War Elephants once again the hot favourites to win the tournament, Singapore will need a full set of players on the field.
“Kiatisak is a good friend and he’s looking as fit as ever. We’re up against the champions and it will be a difficult game. We need to focus on our own game and try to get something from this match, we will try to get points,” said Sundram.
“There are many good players in the Thai team. There are two good strikers... I can’t really single out one player because they work hard together and use each other’s strengths to win games. Teerasil [Dangda] is a good striker though and we’ll need to play well to make sure he doesn’t score.”
Teerasil scored a hat-trick in his team’s win against Indonesia on Saturday.
Later in the evening the Philippines play Indonesia at the same venue.
“Both teams have to win. I hope this will be an interesting match for the fans watching at home and in the stadium tomorrow,” said Philippines coach Thomas Dooley.
“I hope our physical condition improves.”
Indonesia coach Alfred Riedl is also aware of the importance of today’s game.
“Both teams have to win. If we lose, we are out. It will be difficult for both teams. There is tension but we hope for a good game,” he said.
“We played quite a good game [against Thailand] despite the score line. The performance was good, especially against the pre-tournament favourites in my eyes. The players want to bring something home. We saw the Philippines vs Singapore match and we believe we can beat both of them.”
The top two teams from each Group A and Group B reach the semi-finals played over two legs.