BANGKOK (Jan 16, 2007) – Three-time winners Thailand reached the semi-finals of the Asean Football Championship on Tuesday with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Malaysia.
A headed goal from Sarayoot Chaikamdee at the start of the second half saw Thailand take top spot in Group A with seven points.
In a major shock, Malaysia also progressed in second spot on four points after Myanmar were held to a 0-0 draw by the Philippines in the other match played concurrently.
Thailand and Malaysia will not know their opponents in the knockout stage until Wednesday when Vietnam take on Laos and Singapore meet Indonesia in Group B in Singapore.
Defending champions Singapore put themselves in the driver’s seat for qualification with an 11-0 thumping of Laos on Monday.
Malaysia beat Thailand 2-1 in the group stages of the 2004 tournament to end their hopes of a successful defence of the title but the home side exacted revenge on Tuesday with a good all round display.
Thailand captain Kiatisuk Senamuang came back into the side after missing the 4-0 victory over the Philippines with a hip injury but influential midfielder Datsakorn Thonglao was on the bench as he was not fully fit.
He was replaced by Pichitphong Choechiu while the experienced Niweat Siriwong came in to central defence in place of Choketawee Promrut.
Malaysia made just one change from the side that drew with Myanmar bringing in Eddy Helmi Manan to replace Thirumurugan Veeran.
Thailand opened strongly but lacked the cutting edge to trouble the Malaysian defence.
The first real chance of the game fell to the normally reliable feet of Kiatisuk in the 19th minute but he blasted over the bar from 14 yards.
Malaysia nearly hit Thailand with a sucker punch in the 36th minute. Mohd Khyril Muhymeen was let through on goal after a slip from central defender Niweat Siriwong but his shot was stopped low down by the goalkeeper.
Thailand should have gone ahead in the 44th minute. Kiatisuk put Sarayoot clean through with a neat ball but the striker, who scored twice in the 4-0 win over the Philippines, delayed too long and scuffed his effort wide.
Sarayoot atoned for his miss with what turned out to be the winner in the 47th minute.
Wing back Suree Sukha, who had an outstanding game, slung over a cross from the right and Sarayoot headed home much to the delight of the near capacity 28,000 crowd.
There were few clear cut chances in the rest of the half with Malaysia defending as if their lives depended on it.
In the 88th minute Irwan Fadzli Idrus was sent off after picking up a second yellow card.
MALAYSIA COACH NORIZAN BAKAR
I want to congratulate Mr Chavnit (Thai coach) and the Thailand team for winning the game and going through to the next round.
We had a good game and I must say also congratulations to my team.
Today we played the best of the three matches.
In the first half we gave too much space for the Thais and you cannot do that with a team with such quality.
We started to play only in the second half but we could not get the goals.
But regardless of that we went through in the semi-final stage. That is very important also (for Malaysian football).
We got through because of what happened in all three games.
We won the first game, drew the second and played our heart out tonight but did not get the result.
Again I just have to congratulate my team and also the Thai team for getting through to the semi-finals.
THAILAND COACH CHANVIT PHALAJIVIN
I want to congratulate the Malaysian team . – it was a close game.
We have played together so many times, some we have won, some drawn and some lost. Today both teams showed a lot of spirit trying to get to the semi-final.
We could not lose the game today which put a lot of pressure on our players.
Everybody thinks we are the number one in Asean and cannot lose to any team.
It is very difficult, very difficult. Every time in Asean this is the problem for our team. We are expected to win every game.
We changed a few players today. We try to give a chance to other players because we were worried about the team work.
Some players cannot play under pressure – more spectators mean more pressure.
