BANGKOK (27 August 2916) – Kiatisak Senamuang, the head coach of Thailand, was pleased with the performance of his chargers despite the team’s 3-0 loss to Qatar in a friendly in Doha last night.
Preferring to draw the positives instead of harping on the scoreline, Kiatisak said that the decision to field an under-strength side was a good one as this will spur the players to do better ahead of the real test next week.
Thailand will take on Saudi Arabia in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers next Thursday.
“”We tested some new players in this match, so we were not at full strength,” said Kiatisak. “When we went one goal down, our defenders had to move forward to help their teammates in attacking Qatar. This provided our opponents with openings and we ended up conceding two more goals.
“I don’t think it is a big setback. If we had won today, our players could have got carried away. We lost so everyone knows now that we need to improve.”
Hassan Al Haidous gave Qatar the lead after just seven minutes when he converted a penalty before Rodrigo Tabata fired in the second in the 62nd minute and then Al Haidous grabbed his second and the homester’s third in the 77th minute.
