Early test for Buriram in title defence
Champs face Ziege’s Dragons in opener
Buriram United’s mission to defend their Thai League 1 crown gets underway this evening when they face a tricky assignment against Ratchaburi in the tournament curtain-raiser.
The opening match of the 2018 league will be played at Chang Arena in Buriram at 7pm.
SCG Muang Thong United, the Thunder Castle’s arch-rivals, have also been handed a tough opener as they travel to True Bangkok United’s home tomorrow evening.
Buriram are expected to field at least four new faces in their starting line-up this evening and don’t actually know what to expect from the visiting Dragons, who are now under a new coach, former Germany defender Christian Ziege.
Buriram have parted ways with Brazilian striker Jakson ‘Jaja’ Coelho, who has joined Muang Thong, and replaced him with his compatriot Edgar Bruno da Silva. They also have a new South Korean player Yoo JunSoo, who has replaced Ko Seul-Ki.
Thunder Castle manager Tatthep Pitakpoolsin warned that the game will be tough. “The opening match is always difficult for any team, but as the defending champions, we will try our best to produce a good result. We will be playing in our home ground so we have to go for three points.”
He added: “There will be some changes in the team this season as we will be using young players from our own academy like Sittichok Sarachart and Pansa Hemviboon more.”
Ziege will also be looking forward to starting his new job with a bang.
“It is difficult to tell where the team will finish now but I will try to help them win. I have to take it match by match,” the former Germany international had said in an earlier interview.
“I will make the team play with more aggression and keep on attacking, but to achieve that the players would have to be very fit physically.”
Four matches are scheduled to be played tomorrow and another four on Sunday.
In other interesting battles on the opening weekend, Chiang Rai United host Chonburi, aiming to get their season going on a winning note tomorrow.
Port, one of the busiest teams during the pre-tournament transfer window, will be at home against Pattaya United on Sunday evening.
IRAN ROUT THAILAND
Thailand failed to make it to the AFC Futsal Championship semi-finals, suffering a 9-1 hiding at the hands of title favourites and top seeds Iran in Taiwan yesterday.
The Thais finished second in Group D after impressively beating Jordan 5-1 and Kyrgyzstan 8-1 and suffering a 5-2 loss to Lebanon.
Iran were dominant in the first half, grabbing a massive 5-0 lead.
They got down to business as early as the 10th second of the quarter-final when Ahmed Esmaeilpour found the net.
Esmaeilpour produced one more goal, Ali Asghar Hassanzadeh added another to the tally and Hossein Tayebi enjoyed a brace in the first half against the clueless Thais.
Jirawat Sornwichian pulled one back for Thailand in the second half, but that turned out to be their only moment of bliss in the match as Iran went on to strike four more times. Mahdi Javed opened the floodgates once again by guiding the ball into the Thai with ease.
Substitute Mohammad Shajari put his scoring prowess on display with two goals, sandwiching a sizzling shot by Tayebi as the Iranian completed a hat-trick in the match.