Thailand’s under-23 side launched their quest to reclaim SEA Games men’s football gold medal in impressive fashion, by trouncing Timor-Leste with a 6-1 victory in their opening Group A match at the Rajamangala National Stadium on Wednesday.
Coach Thawatchai Damrong-ongtrakul’s young charges were among the first Thai delegates in action, prior to the official start of the 33rd SEA Games running on December 9th. The Games will run until December 20 in Bangkok and Chon Buri.
With only three teams in the group, there was little room for error, if the Thais were to secure the only automatic qualifying spot for the semifinals as the group’s winners.
The first real chance of the game came early in the fourth minute, when a Thai corner was cleared only as far as to Siraphop Wandee lurking outside the box. His rasping drive from 25 yards was brilliantly tipped over the bar by the keeper.
The hosts had the ball in the opposition goal in the 11th minute, but Pichitchai Sienkrthok’s glancing header was ruled out as offside.
Shortly afterwards, Timor-Leste came agonisingly close to stunning the home team with double chances in quick succession. Striker Olagar Xavier first sent his point-blank header against the post, before Luis Figo’s follow-up effort was cleared off the goal line by a Thai defender.
Since their early chance, the Thai side posed little threat in attack, being restricted to only a couple of speculative long-range shots, while Timor-Leste looked far more dangerous on the break, particularly the lively forward Xavier who caused the Thai defence plenty of problems in the opening 25 minutes.
Having struggled to get their game going for a large stretch of the opening half, the Thais suddenly shifted into top gear and managed to open the scoring on the stroke of halftime.
Following a short corner, Thanakrit Chotmuangpak delivered a pinpoint cross for Yotsakorn Burapha to glance home a powerful header into the far post.
The home side picked up where they left off in the first half and quickly went two goals up just four minutes after the restart, when Phon-ek Maneekorn ventured down the left flank before sending an inviting deep cross to the far post, where Siraphop expertly guided his header home from a difficult angle.
With their nerves settled, the hosts began to play more freely and effectively tied things up on the hour mark when a hapless Timor-Leste goalie could do nothing but spill substitute Iklas Sanron’s powerful cross near the byline into the back of his own net.
Yotsakorn then capped his outstanding performance by netting two quick-fire goals to complete his hat-trick, first powering home another header in the 71st minute before quickly following it up with a solo effort to make it 5-0.
After providing assist for Yotsakorn’s second goal, second-half substitute Kakana Khamyok got himself on the scoresheet, firing a clinical shot across the keeper into the far post with nine minutes remaining.
Despite being totally outplayed in the second half, Timor-Leste somehow got the consolation goal in injury time, thanks to defender Palamito Caffin’s towering header from a corner.
The Thai side will play Singapore next, on December 11 at the same venue, potentially a decisive fixture to determine which side clinches the only qualification spot.
