Thailand FIRED UP for Cup

Attending the pre-tournament conference in Manila alongside the coaches of Group A opponents Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines, Kiatisak said his team had their work cut out at the biennial tournament better known as the Suzuki Cup. 

“We’ve worked very hard as we are having to play both a World Cup qualifier [against Australia last Tuesday] and this event. Everyone has put in full effort. We need to compete against ourselves to maintain the team’s standard.”

The 43-year-old coach insisted his side, the only Southeast Asian country to make the last-12 World Cup qualifying round, would give full respect to Indonesia even though the country is playing its first international tournament after two years in the wilderness following a Fifa ban over infighting in its football association.

“We respect Indonesia because they’re a good team. We always have a tough game against the Indonesians … This is by no means an easy job for us.

“We watched Indonesia in warm-ups against Vietnam and Myanmar. There are also lots of good players in Indonesia’s domestic league.

“We saw how good they are in those two tune-up matches,” said the former national striker, who guided the team to their fourth title triumph two years ago to match Singapore as the joint most successful country in the regional championship.

Back during the second leg of the 2014 final against Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, a half-time phone call from HM the late King’s private secretary appeared to work wonders as the Thais fought back to 2-3 – enough to secure a 4-3 aggregate triumph. And Kiatisak hopes his men can now win back-to-back titles for the Kingdom’s longest-reigning monarch.

“We want the title so we can dedicate it to our late King. Two years ago, he watched and lent us support. He’s gone now, but we hope he will be watching over us from above and [we know] this is another chance to bring happiness to the people.

“So we’ll give our opponents respect in every game and try to play as impressively as we can,” said the coach, who helped Thailand win an Asean title hat-trick during his playing days.

Kiatisak also defended his decision to hand the captaincy to Muangthong United striker Teerasil Dangda, who grabbed a brace in the 2-2 draw with Australia, and demote Theerathon Bunmathan, who is also in the squad for the championship running until December 17.

“We want to honour Teerasil because he’s played with us for a long time. He played for the team even before my retirement [as a player].

“We also think he ticks all the boxes and has experience, so we want to give him the captain’s armband. Everyone in the team agrees he’s a suitable choice.”

Channel 7 will televise the game live from 3.30pm.