Kawin, Panupong, Nattaporn, Datsakorn and Teerasil are all included in Thailand's squad to face Graham Roberts' Pakistan in the Asian Games.
In a Bangkok Post interview, Robson made a point of saying that he was worried about player fatigue and the League Cup was introduced in Thailand without consideration of the Asian Games.
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'The Nation', Thailand's other English language daily, has a feature on Mrs. (yes, Mrs.) Chidchob and her ambitions with Buriram FC. In response to claims the fans at Buriram are a "set up", she endows us with this non-sequitur:
""I just want to ask our critics whether they'd like to see the same at their team games or not. If they say 'yes', then we have our answer. But even if they say 'no', they don't have the right to criticise other people."
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The FA Cup final with Chonburi seems to be a point of concern amongst many Quilins fans for two reasons. First is the Suphachalasai Stadium capacity which is not too high at 28,000 or so. It's possible many fans will be turned away because of reason number two which is a widespread rumour that Thai Port fans will attend the game to cheer Chonburi. Given the attacks by small sections of Thai Port fans against Muangthong fans at the same venue in the Kor Royal Cup and given the recent pre-meditated violence by the same fans at BG, you can understand the concern. It would seem far more sensible to switch the venue to Rajmangala and ensure plenty of police are present.
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I'm told that the MTU squad could see an almost complete overhaul in close season with a very large number of departees and some interesting new signings.
I'm really hoping everything will be alright with the FA Cup. I know many MTU supporters (myself included) who are really excited for the match. As for these signings, I hope the Thai national team members stick around, unless they're moving on to bigger and better things. I'm wary of this rumored Pirès signing. If he can play, I'm all for it. But as a fan of America's MLS, I've seen "good" older players get paid big bucks to sit out injured after a few matches, or jog around lethargically. (Beckham has become almost a joke to MLS fans, referred to as the 'Handsome Ghost'.) Maybe the FO should learn from MLS's mistakes and put that money toward developing younger players, Thai or otherwise.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the Pires signing should be treated cautiously. One of teh other potential signings would be fantastic but I suspect he will want silly money.
ReplyDeleteI also fear that many of the Thai internationals will move on but whatever happens, Rob and Rene have an excellent system in place, including a youth team and the replacements such as Ibrahim and Abdoul are waiting for their chance to shine.
We'll be fine :-)