Kiatisuk and Sundram renew old rivalry in mighty Group A battleDefending champions Thailand and Singapore square off against each other tomorrow in the biggest game so far in the 2016 AFF Suzuki Cup – which renews an old friendly rivalry between the two famous coaches.
Thailand’s Kiatisuk Senamuang, popularly known as ‘Zico’ thanks to his sensational scoring exploits during his illustrious playing days, and V. Sundramoorthy from Singapore regularly met playing on the pitch in the 1990s and tomorrow meet as coaches of their respective nations at the Philippines Sports Stadium. Kick-off is 4.30pm (Manila time).
It is a Group A match with everything to play for as Thailand boast an opening game 4-2 win against Indonesia and Singapore have one point following a draw against hosts the Philippines.
Both Thailand and Singapore have triumphed in the AFF Suzuki Cup a record four times.
“Tomorrow we will play an entertaining game. I have known Sundram since our playing days and now we’re both coaches here. It will be a hard game because Singapore have only one point and they will fight,” said Zico, who intends to rest some of his players due to fatigue from last week’s World Cup Qualifier against Australia and the Indonesia game on Saturday.
“I know Sundram, Sundram knows me, we will see tomorrow. Yes we saw that Singapore are strong defensively, but we will do our best,” he added, today’s coaches press conference.
The Lions did well to draw 0-0 with the Philippines on Saturday as they lost Hafiz Sujad to a red card 10 minutes before the break.
With The Water Elephants once again hot favourites to win the tournament Singapore will need a full set of players on the field.
“Kiatisuk is a good friend and he’s looking as fit as ever. We’re up against the champions and it will be a difficult game. We need to focus on our own game and try to get something from this match, we will try to get points,” said Sundram.
“There are many good players in the Thai team. There are two good strikers… I can’t really single out one player because they work hard together and use each other’s strengths to win games. Teerasil is a good striker though and we’ll need to play well to make sure he doesn’t score.”
Later in the evening the Philippines play Indonesia at the same venue at 8pm.
“Both teams have to win, I hope this will be an interesting match for the fans watching at home and in the stadium tomorrow,” said Philippine coach Thomas Dooley.
“I hope our physical condition improves. There was a lack of conditioning (when we started our training camp) and we’ve had to build it up over time. I have told my players that the longer we stay in the tournament, the more we will improve. We have to try to play smart and get our fitness levels up.”
The Philippines have made it to the semi-finals in the last three editions of this tournament and with Thailand favourites in Group A, it looks like they face a tough battle for second spot in the with Singapore and Indonesia.
The top two teams from each Group make it through to the semi-finals played over two legs, home and away.
Indonesian coach Alfred Riedl is fully aware of the importance of tomorrow’s game.
“Both teams have to win. If we lose, we are out. It will be difficult for both teams. There is tension but we hope for a good game,” he said.
“We played quite a good game (against Thailand) despite the score line. The performance was good, especially against the pre-tournament favourites in my eyes. The players want to bring something home. We saw the Philippines vs Singapore match and we believe we can beat both of them.”
