Thailand is in Group B of the SEA Games soccer tournament, with last year’s champion Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Laos following group drawing yesterday (Wednesday).
Group A comprises host Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Timor-Leste.
The SEA Games soccer tournament runs from April 29th to May 16th and Thai team will meet Singapore on April 30th.
Witthaya Laohakul, former director of technical development at the Football Association of Thailand, said that the key element of winning a game is teamwork and that the team must be good in defence and in scoring goals, adding that the skills of individual footballers are not enough to make the team the champions.
Witthaya said that Thai team players mostly come from the Doha Cup team, among them Jonathan Khemdee, Songchai Thongcham and Channarong Promsrikaew. He added that he is not sure whether the Buri Ram Club will be willing to allow one of its players, Suphanat Mueanta, to join the national team for the SEA Games.
Meanwhile, the Thai women’s soccer team is in Group B, with host Cambodia, Singapore and Laos while Group A consists of Vietnam, the former champion, the Philippines, the ASEAN champion, Myanmar, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Indonesia has, however, pulled out in the last minute, leaving only eight teams for the women’s soccer tournament. The Thai women’s team will meet Singapore in the opener on May 3rd.
