THAIS WARY OF COMPLACENCY IN SECOND LEG SEMIS

The overall winner of this contest will meet the winner of the Singapore versus Malaysia second leg semi-final clash tonight in the home-and-away final scheduled for Jan 31 and Feb 4.

The confidence that should reasonably stem from a 2-0 first leg advantage for Thailand is likely to be cancelled somewhat by the loss of their iconic captain Kiatisuk Senamuang who is nursing ankle and back injuries that team manager Thavachai Sajakul (pic) said would all but rule him out of the second leg.

“In football, as you know, there is no guarantee that an advantage like the one we enjoy going into the second leg would ensure the final result is in our favour,” commented Thavachai with the aplomb of a seasoned campaigner.

“We have told our boys they have to play carefully and not overestimate the result of the first leg,” he elaborated.

In an analysis of the first leg at the My Dinh Stadium in Hanoi last Wednesday (Jan 24), Thavachai said Thailand won from a free kick goal in the first half from which, according to him, “there is usually only a five percent chance of conversion.”

“Then we had a goal from one chance we had in the second half that actually resulted from a mistake by the Vietnamese defence,” he remarked.

Though many would disagree with Thavachai’s opinion that Thailand’s victory in the first leg was something of a “fluke,” there was no denying that Vietnam pressed for the greater part of the match and had Phan Thanh Binh converted a penalty just before halftime, the result may well have been different.

That was why when Mai Duc Chung, assistant coach of Vietnam, said his team’s goal in the second leg would be to raise the level of their play, there was unanimous agreement with his view.

“We had under-performed in the first leg and some of our players had gone overboard in their tackling,” he said in obvious reference to the three yellow cards incurred by his players. Duc Chung apologised to Thavachai for the overzealous tackling.

As for the probable absence of Kiatisuk, Thavachai said, “If he is unable to play, we will have to make do without him.”

ADDITIONAL QUOTES

Thailand team manager, Thavatchai Sajakul

“To have a lead in the first leg of 2-0 does not guarantee us a place in the final. But as a team manager I realise this and I have told me players to play carefully and not to overestimate the previous result. (In our minds) we start the game tomorrow on a 0-0 basis.

I have to admit that the win in Hanoi is almost a fluke. The two goals we got were from a free kick from 30 yards and a defensive error. For the whole of the second half we only had one chance to score and it was the mistake of the defence that we managed to score another goal.

Vietnam caused us a lot of danger, they had a penalty but unfortunately (for them) they missed. If they could have scored the penalty, the result could have been different. We never underestimate Vietnamese teams and we have full respect for them.

I looked at (team captain) Kiatisak Senamuang in training yesterday and also talked to him and I think the chance for him to play tomorrow is almost zero.
His ankle is seriously hurt and he also complained about back pain – he said to me that if needs be he is willing to play.

I am not really worried if he does not play – of course it would be better to have him in the line up but if he is not there we will have to think of something else.
I want to take it step by step and not look ahead to the final.”

Vietnam assistant coach, Mai Duc Chung

“We came here to play Thailand team. In our eyes Thailand are number one in our region. We lost 0-2 in the first leg and we have to learn lessons from Thailand.

We will play without thinking about the score.
In the first leg, Phan Thanh Binh missed a penalty because of psychological reasons. Maybe we change our penalty taker but who will take any spot kick is a secret.

We do not have any injury worries but three players are on one yellow card. If we beat Thailand 3-0 tomorrow (and reach the final) it will be a miracle.
We learned a lot of lessons from the first leg.

Some of our players underperformed in Hanoi because of the atmosphere (from a sell out crowd).”