Failing to complete the task, the coach of the Thailand U17 team was immediately sacked.
The Football Association of Thailand (FAT) recently officially terminated the contract of head coach Marco Gockel and the entire coaching staff following the poor performance of the national U17 team at the 2026 AFC U17 Championship.
This humiliating defeat not only deeply disappointed Thai fans but also directly shattered the "War Elephants'" goal of qualifying for the U17 World Cup.
At the recent continental tournament, the Thailand U17 team was drawn into a group with Tajikistan U17, Myanmar U17, and host nation Saudi Arabia U17. Despite receiving significant investment from the governing body and high expectations from fans, the young players' performance was extremely lackluster.
The Thai team was eliminated early in the group stage after only two matches, suffering consecutive defeats against U17 Tajikistan and U17 Saudi Arabia. In the final match against familiar opponent U17 Myanmar, coach Marco Gockel's team couldn't even secure a consolation victory, drawing and finishing the tournament with only 1 point.
This failed campaign is seen as the culmination of the mistakes in FAT's direction and the coaching staff's preparation strategy. Previously, FAT had decided to split the squad by sending a reserve team to the Southeast Asian U17 tournament under the guidance of coach Sirisak Yodyardthai in order to conserve the main squad's energy for separate training with coach Marco Gockel.
However, this calculation completely backfired when the reserve squad was eliminated early from the group stage of the regional tournament after shocking defeats against Laos and Myanmar, while the main squad also failed to show any progress in the continental competition.
The departure of German strategist Marco Gockel just one week after the tournament concluded was a drastic step aimed at rebuilding Thailand's youth football training system. Notably, including coach Sirisak, Gockel is the second consecutive coach of the country's U17 team to be dismissed in a short period of time.
The ongoing instability on the coaching bench is posing a significant challenge for the FAT in finding suitable personnel to prepare for Thailand's next U17 Asian Championship qualifying campaign.
Source: https://danviet.vn/hlv-u17-thai-lan-bay-ghe-d1428380.html
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