#BestBets with Patrick Kinghorn: Thailand vs South Korea
International breaks are a nightmare for punters. It is impossible to get stuck in with any conviction but the games are so dull in most cases the only way to suffer them sometimes is by having a financial interest! With that in mind, I cannot possibly give you ‘Three for the Weekend’ but I’ll have a go at ‘One’!
I am in Thailand this week visiting my old pal Gary Stevens and we watched the War Elephants pull off a tremendous achievement on Thursday night in making it through to the final stage of AFC Qualifying for Russia 2018 (also booking a spot in the 2019 Asian Cup in the process).
Photo Credit: footballdj.com
Their 2-2 draw in Iran against Iraq gave them the point they needed to make it out of the truncated Group F, the group that ended up one nation light in the wake of Indonesia’s FIFA ban. With so much at stake it was a compelling game and having weathered some very nervy moments early on the Thai’s led twice and coped well with a predictable Iraqi onslaught late on.
Kiatisuk “Zico” Senamuang’s men return home to Bangkok now for what is sure to be one hell of a celebration at the Supachalasai stadium on Sunday when they take on South Korea in front of a sell-out crowd that will be quite rightly giving their national heroes bucket loads of praise. Zico named a massive 31 players in his squad for the match and it is a safe bet that many of the men who had that hard game in Tehran on Thursday night will be given the night off. South Korea of course are one of Asia’s footballing powerhouses and will start the game as massive favorites and I’m very much of the opinion that unlike many International friendlies, there will be plenty of goals in this one.
Photo Credit: aseanbola.com
The Thais deserve all the praise coming their way for the way they have meticulously developed a young national team with domestic competition regularly halted for up to three weeks to give the country every possible chance of success on the international stage. They play an attractive brand of football and lifted by the crowd, are sure to take the game to the Koreans which should make the match one of those rare occasions when a friendly international is actually worth watching.
The Korean’s have only conceded ONE goal in the last thirteen games they have played in 12 months but with the atmosphere inside the stadium and the fringe players who will play that will be desperate to stake a claim for a starting berth in the big games to come, Thailand have the ability to trouble the scoreboard operator on Sunday. The last time Thailand failed to score was in another friendly against the North Korean last May when they lost 1-0 but I am confident we will see OVER 2.5 goals in Bangkok this weekend.
Photo Credit: ste.india.com
It is a game worth watching but also another sad damning indictment of the shambles that is Malaysia’s national football team. Malaysia remember came within a whisker of a huge win in the 2014 Suzuki Cup final just over a year ago against Thailand and Malaysia’s passionate football fans deserve to be given the same footballing euphoria that the Thai’s are enjoying right now.
