Thailand U.23 coach makes 'firm' statement: Not afraid of any opponent, will defeat all to win the championship

Coach Thawatchai Damrong-Ongtrakul of the Thailand U.23 team affirmed that the sudden withdrawal of Cambodia U.23 from the 33rd SEA Games at the last minute did not affect him and his players much.

Thailand U.23 coach wants to win the top spot

On the afternoon of December 2, the press conference before the first match of Group A of the 33rd SEA Games men's football took place at Rajamangala Stadium. Head coach of Thailand U23, Mr. Thawatchai Damrong-Ongtrakul shared: "We have prepared carefully, will make some tactical changes to play well against Singapore and Timor Leste. Of course, we want to win the top spot in the group. In the case of Cambodia, we always want every country to be able to participate. And we have no big problem changing opponents. To be champions, we need to beat every other team."

Coach Thawatchai Damrong-Ongtrakul shared: "Our goal is definitely to win the championship. We have not won the SEA Games for a long time. This time, we are hosting the SEA Games. We have prepared for many months, through many training sessions, starting from the Southeast Asian U.23 Championship in Indonesia, the Asian U.23 qualifiers in Thailand, as well as friendly matches in China and most recently with India.

We have prepared and selected players from all four training camps, who we believe are the best of this generation in Thailand, to compete in this SEA Games."

U.23 Vietnam missed Rajamangala Stadium, the host was no exception

He added: "Some key players from many clubs are injured, but we have prepared a plan B. We met Timor Leste in the first match, and we also met them in Indonesia. They are developing well, and we cannot underestimate them. Both Timor Leste and Singapore have prepared well, and we are trying our best to face them. For the domestic tournament, we are preparing both plan B and plan C for player rotation. We believe that to win the SEA Games, we need to play four matches. We cannot be complacent about player rotation. We have prepared carefully for both matches, and we will apply that in this SEA Games. The first step is to win the group stage, before aiming for the semi-finals and finals."

The coaches in Group A are expected to bring exciting matches to the fans.

PHOTO: NHAT THINH

Thailand U.23 team coach shows extremely high determination

PHOTO: NHAT THINH

What did the home team's opponents say?

Singapore U.23 coach Firdaus Kassim said: "Everyone knows we are a young team. We are looking towards the future, not just the SEA Games. We are trying to bring quality performances. We want to compete with other teams and will bring what we showed during the training trip in Dubai to Thailand."

Meanwhile, the head coach of the U.23 Timor Leste team shared: "This is the first time I have led a team, and both Singapore and Thailand are strong teams. I have prepared carefully for the tournament. We will try our best to compete well. Our preparation is quite good. Every team here is the same, everyone will try their best to compete."

At the 33rd SEA Games, the Thailand U23 team will face Timor Leste and Singapore on December 3 and 11 respectively. Meanwhile, Timor Leste and Singapore will face each other on December 6. All matches will take place at 7 p.m. at Rajamangala Stadium.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/hlv-u23-thai-lan-tuyen-bo-cung-khong-so-doi-thu-nao-se-danh-bai-tat-ca-de-vo-dich-185251202141805628.htm