Match Report: Muangthong United 0 Thai Port 0

 

"Everybody acting bad when they up"

LeBron James

It's time to bake in the Bangkok oven again as the scorching summer sun rays crash down on two local sides at opposite ends of the table. In times past, it would be us pushing for the title while Port straggled behind. Things are very different now and we're staring into the precipice of relegation while the Lions sit proudly in second place. Football, like life, has a way of reminding you nothing lasts forever and in good times and bad, you just have to keep going and never give up. All I want tonight is for our boys to make a fight of it.

I've never really understood why some Port fans feel the way they do about Muangthong. They remind me of Pompey in the sense that a few of them seem to dislike their rivals more than they love their own
club. The events of sixteen years ago - sixteen years?! Where has that time gone?! - are ancient history to me.  I still remember making a run for it as Port fans climbed the fence, politely declining to teach English to one young fan who seemed oblivious to the fights breaking out around us and reading a text from Matt Riley saying eh and his kids had been chased on to the MRT. No hard feelings from me though, Port fans were friendly to me at the away fixture. Bar a tiny number of wannabe hooligans, most people on both sides just want to enjoy the occasion.

To the game and the team news is that the new gaffer - more on that later - has gone for the exact same team selection I would and - as every football fan in history knows - the only correct team selection of any manager is the exact same one that you would choose. For us that means Melvyn and Tonktov stay benched and Saric plays up front with Popp flanking him. Kakana sits behind them and Kempster is  back in the team. In the stands, the "2 for 1" offer has worked quite well again and the turnout is notably healthy by recent standards. Fans of other teams frequently mention our empty stadium, but we still get turnout that puts us in the top half of any fan table. I'm in the south stand tonight so much of the action registers differently with me than it would do for TV viewers and their much clearer perspective.

                           

We kick off and it's clear that Port are starting on the front foot with an early curled shot hitting the side netting. Port have a couple more buildups battled away by the Kirins and then something cool happens: we actually launch a counter-attack. Korrakut makes a quick throw to Kempster and rather than taking a cheap sideways tap like players of Leg 1 would do, Kempster actually surges past the halfway line and looks for a quick cross before Port can regroup. It comes to nothing but the fact that we have a game plan is encouraging.

The game evolves into a scrappy, battling affair but it's not dull. Both sides are giving one hundred and ten percent and although there's no goals, it never feels like the one is far away. About 35 minutes in, Popp - who looks our best threat and most creative outlet - cuts inside not one but two defenders and finds space on the touchline to the left of the Port goal. He has two options: cross or shoot - he goes for the latter and attempts to curl the ball into the goal. The fans behind the goal - myself included - are gifted with a beautiful sight as the ambitious effort swerves past the goalie.......and hits the corner of the upright post. Its painfully close and everyone feels it. Somewhere out there in quantum world is an alternate universe where that shot went in and we survive in Tier 1. Popp continues weaving the dark arts for us and it doesn't feel like the ref is giving us much, but the goalless draw at half time is fair. 

The second half begins in a similar vein but it's clear that the mental fatigue of maintaining this much intensity is starting to wear on our young players. I'm wondering why we haven't utilised the bench but then again, who goes on? Melvyn is slow, unfit and out of form, Strauss is injured and there's no way any of this backline deserves to be taken off.  The reality team on the pitch are pretty much all we have. Maybe we can bring on a youngster for a quick energy boost for the last ten minutes or so so but that as Port attacks become unerring, that feels a long way away right now. To be honest, by the time we are sixty minutes in, I'd bite the hand off anyone offering a point from this one.

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There's some bright points, too, though. I can't remember who was marking Port's target man Perera at the reverse fixture in Klong Toei, but I do remember the big man bullied him around for most of the
game. Tonight though he's up against Kim Dong-Su, who's matching him for every test of strength and mettle. Midway through the second half Perera attempts to body-check Kim and pull him off the ball all in one motion but the Korean holds his balance and makes the clearance all the same. When play is held up to check on a downed Port player, Kim turns to the home crown and gestures for them to up the noise. I like this guy.

It's becoming more about Port though as the second half winds on. Our counters are becoming slower and rarer.  Port get a suspicious (to my biased mind) free kick near the edge of our box and once again I get a perfect view as a well-struck effort is tipped over by Korraut. Just like the back line guarding him, he hasn't made a single mistake tonight and he's shown a lot of courage.

As the final minutes approach I'm starting to feel some of the brain fog that the players must be feeling and it really becomes a blur. There's some more dubious decisions in Port's favour around our box and a 90th minute dive by a Port forward clearly deserves an award for the lamest penalty attempt of all time but the ref just ignores it all. We manage to make a late push and win a corner but nothing comes of it and the ref then blows for full time at 97 minutes. The home crowd growl at the ref and the away fans growl at Popp for what they perceive as a fake injury in the dying seconds but I think that's an injustice to all involved. 

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This was the best goalless draw I've seen since we played Buriram at home about 15 years ago. Before tonight's game, I really considered simply not turning up. The pain of giving up time and money to suffer endless misery and disappointment was really starting to take its toll. I'm so glad I did the right thing. Tonight, for the first time in what feels like years (but is actually a few months), I was proud of
the team and I can't fault a single player for anything they did. After months of calling out the squad for a lack of gameplan, counter-attacking movement or fitness they finally produced all three in one night and got a fully deserved point against the team in second place. If I was being hypercritical, I'd say Popp got himself an unnecessary booking for pushing the dark arts too far but it was the result of a leader past his physical prime doing everything he could for his team. It's hard to pick fault with that and if the ref had been more consistent Port would have collected at least one more yellow, too.

Will that draw be enough in the long run? I don't know, but it gives us that dangerous thing called hope, for the performance as much as the point itself.

The manager situation

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The build up to tonight was covered in chaos, too as we parted ways with Mario Ivanovich just over 24 hours before kick off. I initially chastised the club for a bad decision but in hindsight, I was wrong. My fears of Uthai being returned to the hot seat were unfounded as Mario's replacement was announced within hours in the form of Jose Borges. Honestly I don't know much about him beyond his experience
with TTM but this was a heck of a way for him to make a first impression. I like the refreshing honesty of his post match press conference. In particular, he was candid about his personal position: if we stay up he's a hero, if we go down it wasn't his doing anyway. It might not be the most noble response but when he says it, it makes me believe him when he also says that we have a chance to stay up, too.The only thing I disliked about Borges' interview was his slight dig at his predecessor. When Thai Football Podcast asked me to say a few words about Ivankovich's appoint over the Christmas break appointment, I said the big test for him would be how quickly he could adapt to the upside-down world of Thai football and the different psyche of the country, including its football. That was probably his downfall. I don't think he is a bad manager, he was thrown into a difficult situation and with the beautiful thing called hindsight, we probably should have gone for Borges in the first place.

Man of the match

A case could be made for almost any player on the team tonight. The obvious choice would be Popp for leading the line physically and mentally, providing the inspiration, experience and leadership we have been crying out for. Likewise, young (for a keeper) goalie Korrakut showed real courage and concentration for 97 minutes, never shying away from his responsibilities in a gruelling encounter.

In the end though I have to choose Kim Dong-Su who battled like ....umm....what's the Korean version of a samurai? ......(checks google)..... a Ssaurabi the entire night! Every challenge, every cross, every tussle, he was there in the thick of it, reminding the fans to give the team the energy they needed to keep battling. Love it.

Next up is Prachuap away. A single loss now will probably be the final nail. But we can take pride in the performance tonight and solace in denying Port the outcome they were gagging for.

Kirins chai-yoo.