With the Thai contingent continuing to win title after title on home soil, Thailand’s national under-23 football team coach, Thawatchai Dumrong-ongtrakul, has insisted that his young charges are under no pressure to deliver the SEA Games gold medal the whole country craves when they face bitter rivals Vietnam in the men’s football final on Thursday.
Despite being the most successful nation in the competition with 16 titles overall, Thailand have not lifted the coveted trophy since their last triumph at the biennial regional event eight years ago in Malaysia.
Public expectations have been further heightened this time, with fans hoping the Young War Elephants can finally end their long barren run at the home Games after falling agonisingly short in the last two editions.
Vietnam national football team
With just one win separating them from a title widely regarded as the jewel in the crown, former national midfielder Thawatchai is confident his side can get over the line in front of home supporters at Rajamangala National Stadium.
“We’ve achieved our targets step by step so far. The next one is to become champions,” Thawatchai said. “Vietnam are a quality side that continue to improve. It’s good for us to face one of the leading teams in the region in the final. If we want to win the title, we have to beat a team like this.
“Vietnam are experienced and well organised, which is their strength. We must focus on the way they play,” he told a pre-match press conference on the eve of the clash.
The Thai coach added that his side are in good shape ahead of a rematch of the 2022 final, which Vietnam won 1-0 at the Covid-delayed Games in Hanoi.
“The positive thing for us at the moment is that all of our players are available. Everyone is back for national duty after playing for their clubs. We have good team spirit and have made progress from each of our previous training camps.
“We’ve faced several ASEAN sides and now it’s Vietnam. It’s definitely a challenging task, but we have to get past them if we want to be the best team in the region,” Thawatchai said.
Defender Chanapach Buaphan echoed his coach’s confidence, vowing to help Thailand claim a record-extending 17th title.
“It’s a crunch match, of course. In the semi-final against Malaysia, we didn’t play well, but we’ve done our homework,” the 21-year-old said. “We’ll give everything to win this time. It will come down to tactics and how clinical we are in taking our chances.
“We play for the country. Fear is not in our vocabulary. If we’re not confident in ourselves, nobody will be.”
The title showdown will kick off at 7.30pm.
Meanwhile, after failing to reach the final, Thailand’s women’s team redeemed themselves by clinching the bronze medal with a routine 2-0 victory over Indonesia on Wednesday.
