INTERVIEW: Dennis Amato On Chainat Hornbill’s Remarkable Survival

This is somewhat of a strange question to answer in hindsight, but how confident were you going into the game on the final day against Suphanburi?

Honestly, we were very confident to go into the last game against Suphanburi. We believed that we would be able to win this game. But, on the other side, something had to happen on the other pitches. I was quite sure that Sukhothai would win at home against Air Force, and I also thought that BG (Bangkok Glass) would get at least one point at home against Korat. So, the hope that we could survive was very low. But, we always had in our head that we wanted to win our game. Anything could always happen on the other pitches.

At half time, when you were 1-0 up, what did you say to the players?

At half time, [what I said] was very short. We were leading, and I just wanted to win our game. So I told the players that we are leading now, and if we do not concede anymore today we will leave the pitch as the winners. If we are lucky, it will be enough to [stay in] the league.

Did you let the players know that Bangkok Glass were losing at half time?

We never told the players about the scores on the other pitches. Not at half time, not even ten minutes before the game ended. I wanted them really to focus and to win that match, and when Suphanburi equalized in the last minute of the game, then I was screaming inside that ‘if you win this game, you’re gonna stay.’ So, we put everything again towards out offence, and we were lucky to get that penalty in the last minute.

Please walk us through the emotions you felt after winning that penalty in the final minutes of the game. 

It was tough. I always informed about the results from the other games, so I knew when we were leading that it can be enough in the end to survive. Actually, in the second half, we were not allowing any chance for Suphanburi. Then, we made one mistake, allowed one cross, inside we were sleepy, and conceding that goal...in this moment I thought it was done. Also, when I saw the players I thought they are done as well. I don’t know why but with the substitution of Marco Ballini I screamed ‘come on, get us back, get us another goal or get us any situation to help us’ I was screaming at every player, to try again.

Really believing was hard in this moment. But, we were so unlucky the whole season, we conceded so many goals in the last minute, when we were losing points, and had so many decisions against us during the season. At the end, we could be very happy to get the penalty in the last minute.

You didn’t let the players celebrate at the final whistle, and instead you and your coaching staff were seen checking the scores from the other games. Please describe your feeling at that moment. 

Yes, I didn’t want them to celebrate because the game was not over [at the Leo Stadium]. It’s ok that we’ve won our game, we’ve done our job and this part was done. But the game in Bangkok was still running, and I was thinking about the situation that happened in Germany a few years ago, when Schalke also was celebrating on the last game-day of the league and Bayern Munich was able to score, also in extra time, the equalizing goal in Hamburg, and they won the championship. So, I wanted to be clear and even with the message that the other game was over, I still did not believe it. I was checking by myself, my assistant coach was checking, my interpreter was asking me if it was really true.

I didn’t want the players to have any celebrations before it was a hundred percent sure. But my feeling in this situation, I was still really focused deeply on our game, and still trying to realize what just happened because you’ve played 90 minutes, you’ve stayed in the league and you think you really deserve to stay in the league after collecting so many points during the season. Then it should be over in just a few seconds...this was unbelievable. Then, when it really was clear it was like a big rock was dropping down off my shoulders, all the pressure released in one second. I was just feeling happy and it is very hard to describe that feeling.

Lastly, what was your message to the players once your survival had been confirmed?

There was not really a message from me to the players about the survival. Most of the players were checking themselves, watching on their phones. I was more looking for myself and talking to my interpreter just to try and stay calm. I thought that everything is still possible. Football is so cruel sometimes and in the last seconds something can change.

Mostly, they bought the message to me, by running to me and saying ‘coach, coach, we really did it, we can’t believe it.’ To see all of this happiness in the players eyes. Thai players who never spoke English started trying to speak English with me. Everybody was so thankful. It’s a moment in life you will never forget and it will still be in my head, just like the title we won the year before.

So, the situation overall was very stressful overall but had a very happy ending, and this brought us all closer together.