Obb Deewajin
Football Tribe Thailand
State of the Team: Suspended Yokohama F. Marinos left-back, Theerathon Bunmathan, will be a massive miss as Thailand visit Malaysia. The War Elephants are also without the service of another J1 League-based player, Thitipan Puangchan, who has just returned from injury recently and deemed not fully fit by the national team staff.
Talisman Chanathip Songkrasin has met up for training in Malaysia. There are no other major injury concern and Akira Nishino has pretty much kept the same squad from the previous international break, with defenders Adisorn Promrak and Tristan Do the only two notable inclusion this round. However, there has been a last-minute reshuffling in terms of backroom staff as a consequence of the Thai U19’s poor results. Issara Sritaro, the U19’s coach who was sent to take over the U23’s friendly versus Myanmar on Wednesday, decided to quit after supporters were left unsatisfied by his recent record with the national youth. This meant Totchtawan Sirpan, who was supposed to be by Nishino’s side at Bukit Jalil, will be taking charge of the U23’s instead Nishino is known to be detailed when delegating task to his staffs and it’ll be interesting to know whether this sudden change of plans affects the mood or inner working of the squad.
Thoughts on the Opposition: Tan Cheng Hoe has worked miracles since he took the helm of the Harimau Malaya. Despite collecting only one win from three matches so far, the side fought bravely at home against the UAE and had a decent game when they lost to AFF Champions Vietnam at the My Dinh National Stadium. This is a must-win for Malaysia, thus, Thailand can expect a tough game and have to be at their absolute best to get anything out of this vital fixture.
Player to Watch – Korrakot Wiriyaudomsiri: Buriram United’s Korrakot is expected to fill in for the suspended Theerathon Bunmathan. Under Akira Nishino, the J1 League star’s performance has improved exponentially with the national side. He has been the most reliable of all the foreign-based players, dictating tempo from deep areas with his intelligent passing, playing as the unorthodox inverted fullback role. An essential X factor in the team. Korrakot, on the other hand, is more of a traditional left-back who loves to get forward and cross from the byline. Facing the likes of wide-forward Safawi Rasid, Syahmi Safari or Mohamadou Sumareh will be a huge test for Korrakot. We’ll have to wait and see if the 31-year-old can step up to the task.
Prediction: With nothing to lose, Malaysia will surely be on the front foot. A lot will depend on whether Akira Nishino adopts a more conservative approach (like he did against Vietnam on his debut) or count on the players attacking intuition like the UAE win. Theerathon is a massive missed but all in all, I am confident in the team’s momentum and believe Thailand can edge a victory after a hard-fought battle in front of a full-house Bukit Jalil.