After Kiatisuk quit on Friday following two heavy defeats against Saudi Arabia and Japan in World Cup qualifiers, Football Association of Thailand is in search for a new head coach for the national team.
Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Thai FA President Somyot Poompunmuang said he preferred a coach who has successfully helped a country to the World Cup finals before. He compared the desired one to an “experienced hunter” who has gone through a forest and knows the route.
“The ‘hunter’ would know how to take us to the destination because he knows the route well,” Somyot Poompunmuang said.
“This means the new coach would be a foreigner. But the problem is whether we will have money to pay the one we want or he will be available or not. We may not get the one we prefer, and the one we get may not be good enough.”
He said the FAT had received applications for the job from several coaches from around the world.
Reports claim among them is Argentina’s Alejandro Sabella who guided his country to the final match at the 2014 World Cup.
Kiatisak, meanwhile, said he would not coach a Southeast Asian national team. “I don’t want to coach an ASEAN country because I don’t want to fight against my country,” he said.
Reports in Vietnam claim Kiatisak, 43, may accept the coaching job at Hoang Anh Gia Lai, the Vietnamese club which he used to be player and manager.