WONGMEENA DELIVERS THAILAND AFF U19 CROWN

The score at the end of regulation and extra time was 2-2.

“It was a very difficult game against the Australians where at the end, it all boiled down to tactical discipline,” said Chalermvud Sangnapol, the head coach of Thailand.

“But we totally deserved the victory even though we allowed them to come back twice.”

Both teams took their time to settle into the game considering that their last encounter – in a Group A match ended in a 1-1 draw – they had every reason to be cautious especially when it is the final game of the championship.

It was Thailand who created the first real chance in the game off Noppanom kotchalayuk’s run down the flank for a cross which was met by Channanan Pombupha whose shot was cleared on the line by Australia’s Jason Davidson.

The Aussies the replied with a header from Joshua McVey several minutes later but which went just a little off target while Thailand ended the first half with a double chance from Ponlachai Hongthong which narrowly missed the left post while Adisak Krisorn’s attempt was blocked by custodian Mark Birighitti.

The substitution for Natthawut Khamrin in the second half brought pace to Thailand’s frontline and in the 69th minute, they finally broke the deadlock when he raced down the right flank before cutting into the Australian box for a shot to the far post for the lead.

But with just a few seconds left on the clock, Dylan McGowan headed home the equaliser for Australia from a Joshua Groenewald’s free kick to push the game into extra-time.

The extra-time did little to change the pace or rhythm of the game and in the 101st minute of play, Adisak chested down a corner before turning past several defenders for a grounder to totally beat Birighitti for the second time.

And while everything seems lost for Australia, they showed their resilience once again deep in injury time for Jared Lum to unleash a dipping shot past Ukrit for the second equaliser.

In the penalty shootout, Ukrit made up for his earlier mistakes when he denied Davidson, Eli Babalj and McGowan’s attempt while Groenewald and James Virgili converted the remainder for Australia.

Thailand’s Apisit Khamwang, Piyarat Lajungreed and captain Surachet Ngamtip were all successful from the spot while Chakrit Ravanprakon and Pittayapat Mangkata did not.

“It was a really good competition for us even though we did not quite defend the title we won last year,” said Johannes Versleijen.

“The players are all new and we will have some time to develop the players for the AFC qualifiers. But Thailand played really well on the day and they deserved to win the crown.”

In the meantime, hosts Vietnam emerged third in the competition when they whitewashed Malaysia 3-0.

The scorers for Vietnam were Nguyen Tan Tai in the 26th minute, Le Quoc Phuong in the 35th minute and Ha Minh Tuan in the 68th minute.

FIXTURES and RESULTS

4 August 2009
Thanh Long Centre –
AUSTRALIA 1 SINGAPORE 1/ MYANMAR 3 TIMOR LESTE 0

Thong Nhat Stadium –
CAMBODIA 0 THAILAND 3/ MALAYSIA 0 VIETNAM 2

6 August 2009
Thanh Long Centre –
TIMOR LESTE 1 MALAYSIA 7/ SINGAPORE 3 CAMBODIA 1

Thong Nhat Stadium –
THAILAND 1 AUSTRALIA 1/ VIETNAM 3 MYANMAR 1

8 August 2009
Thanh Long Centre –
CAMBODIA 0 AUSTRALIA 3 / MALAYSIA 2 MYANMAR 0

Thong Nhat Stadium –
THAILAND 1 SINGAPORE 0/ VIETNAM 3 TIMOR LESTE 1

10 August 2009
Thong Nhat Stadium –
Semi-finals 1 – THAILAND 1 MALAYSIA 0
Semi-finals 2 – VIETNAM 1 AUSTRALIA 4

12 August 2009
Thong Nhat Stadium –
3RD / 4TH PLACING – MALAYSIA 0 VIETNAM 3

FINAL – THAILAND 2 (3) AUSTRALIA 2 (2)