Gian Chansrichawla
Football Tribe SEA Editor
The hunt for a new Thailand national team boss continues, as the national team has sounded out Akira Nishino as a potential replacement for recently the resigned caretaker coach Sirisak Yodyardthai.
According to this report from the Bangkok Post, Nishino has publicly expressed interest in taking over as the next head coach of the War Elephants. The report also claims that the FAT have ‘received his profile’ and are considering him for the job.
Nishino’s announcement follows a similar move to South Korean boss Yoon Jong-Hwan, former coach of Ulsan Hyundai, Cerezo Osaka and most recently Muangthong United, who also declared his interest in becoming Thailand’s next head coach. In fact, the Thai FA’s official Twitter account put out this tweet looking to sound out the potential interest in having Yoon as their next coach, while making it clear that they are continuing their search for their next head coach.
The 64-year-old Nishino has plenty of experience coaching at the highest levels in Asia. His most successful spell as a coach came at Gamba Osaka, where he worked from 2002 to 2011, winning the J.League title in 2005 and the AFC Champions League in 2008.
In his most recent role, Nishino led the Japanese National Team to the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Following the surprise sacking of coach Vahid Halilhodzic two months before the tournament, Nishino impressed by taking Japan out of a tough group featuring Senegal, Poland, and Colombia, before narrowly losing to Belgium in the Round of 16.
With the sacking of former National Team boss Milovan Rajevac after the first game at the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, one would have thought that the War Elephants job has become something of a poisoned chalice. However, surprisingly, it seems like the job is more coveted now than it was following the sacking of Kiatisuk Senamuang back in 2017, despite the team being in an arguably worse position.
Thai fans should take heart from the fact that many of the continent’s best coaches are publicly interested in the national team job, ahead of what is likely to be a difficult 2022 World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup qualifying campaign.