NAYPYITAW (19 Dec 2013) – Thailand, once the giants of Southeast Asian, took a step closer to regaining their past glory when they qualified for the final of the men’s SEA Games football competition for the first time since 2007.
The Thais converted a penalty to defeat Singapore 1-0 in the semi-finals at the Zayar Thiri Stadium in Nay Pyi Taw tonight.
The Thais, who dominated the SEA Games from 1993 to 2007 where they won eight successive gold medals, will now face Indonesia in the final on Saturday. Indonesia had earlier knocked out defending champions Malaysia in the penalty shootout.
For Thailand, making the cut for the final this time around will keep them on track to making a clean sweep of the gold medals in offer at this SEA Games.
Thailand have now qualified for the final of the men’s and women’s football and Futsal competitions.
In tonight’s match, Thailand started off cautiously but soon picked up the rhythm and started taking shots at the Singapore goal. The young Lions were hungry for goals and had several attempts at their opponents’ goal.
But in the 25th minute, Thailand were awarded a penalty which Praweenwat Boon Yong converted. That goal turned out to be the winner for this semi-final encounter.
The attacks began to intensify as the game progressed. And in the last 15 minutes Singapore, realizing that time was running out, launched a series of attacks but were unfortunate not to score off any of them.
Their attempts were cleared by the quick defenders of by goalkeeper Kawin Thamsatchanan.
As Singapore pushed up, the Thais took advantage of the gaps left behind but they too failed to add to the score sheet. Muhammad Fariz Ramli had the last crack at goal before time but his shot did not make it through.
