nigel.simon@guardian.co.tt
T&T Soca Warriors winless run at the Football Association of Thailand organised King’s Cup in Thailand continued after going down to the host country 2-1 in their third-place playoff before 12,500 spectators at the Chiang Mai Stadium, yesterday.
Competing in the penultimate match of the tournament, the Angus Eve-coached Soca Warriors beaten in their semifinal 2-1 by Tajikistan on Thursday, were eager to end on a high, against the host nation, who went under to Malaysia 5-3 on penalties, in their semifinal after a 1-1 deadlock at the end of regulation time.
Thailand had T&T on the backfoot for long periods in the early stage of the match in the rainy conditions, and it was no surprise when the host went ahead in the 20th minute through a gift from Soca Warriors goalkeeper Marvin Phillip.
The 38-year-old Phillip gifted the 111th FIFA-ranked Thailand the lead when he failed to deal with a back pass from defender Sheldon Bateau, and under pressure from striker Suphanat Mueanta, he cleared the ball to Channarong Promsrikaew, who fired a one-time effort into the unguarded net for a 1-0 lead which his team took into the half-time interval.
As T&T settled and began to enjoy a bit more of the ball, they forced the hosts to defend a couple of dangerous attacking plays with striker Reon Moore heading a Levi Garcia delivery just overbar from near the six-yard box while the Guatemalan-based forward also had another effort before the break which Thailand goalkeeper Kittipong Phoothawachuek took care of.
On the hour, the Soca Warriors drew level when a right-sided corner from second-half substitute Kevin Molino glanced off the head of defender Kareem Moses before deflecting off of Thailand’s Kritsada Kaman and into his own net.
Thailand retook the lead in a swift move with Supachok Sarachart collecting a ball inside the 18-yard box, before he switched it on to his much fancied right foot, wrong-footing defender Jesse Williams in the process, and curled his effort into the top far corner past the desperate dive of Phillip.
This was T&T’s third appearance in Thailand, with the senior national men’s team also tasting defeat in 2004 and 2018, losing to the hosts 3-2 and 1-0, respectively.
Speaking after the match, 50-year-old Eve said, “We saw this tournament as a good opportunity for us to bring in some new players who we haven’t seen who been playing abroad in different leagues, so this tournament worked for us, it was good.”
“The results didn’t go our way, but at least we saw the tenacity of the team, we saw the fight of the team and we saw that we can create chances. Maybe defensively we are a bit frail and we are still a work in progress.”
“We were prepared for what Thailand had to offer knowing that they have a Brazilian coach and what type of football they normally play, but we didn’t execute at some times in the match.
He added, “On this trip, we wanted to try two formations and in the second match we tried a different formation and played different personnel, and unfortunately, I think it didn’t stick to them as quickly as wanted to granted we just had a couple of days with the guys, after all the travelling, so we reverted to what we normally do in the second half and I thought we were much better,” stated Eve, the most capped T&T player with 117 national team appearances.
In the final, Tajikistan got the better of Malaysia 3-0 on penalty kicks after a goalless 90 minutes with the latter missing the first three attempts.
