Thais wary of S’pore in bid for championship spot

SINGAPORE — Thailand are expected to go head-to-head against North Korea in the battle for top spot at this week’s Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under-16 Championship qualifiers, but the 2015 ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Under-16 champions are not about to underestimate hosts Singapore when the action gets under way at the Jalan Besar Stadium tonight.

While the team lists have not been released yet, Thailand’s under-15 side will be the ones to watch at the tournament after a dominant display at last month’s AFF championship, where they routed Myanmar 3-0 in Phnom Penh to clinch the championship trophy. Among the players to watch are 15-year-old Thai forward Jinnawat Russamee, who scored seven goals in the AFF Championship, striker Korawich Tasa and midfielder Sittirak Koetkhumthong, who are all expected to power Thailand’s campaign at the AFC qualifiers.

“My players are all players with very good discipline, and we will ... we need to go to the final tournament in India,” said Thai coach Payong Khunnen at the pre-match press conference at Peninsula Excelsior Hotel yesterday. “But it won’t be easy to play Singapore, because they are the hosts. We will try our best, and we believe that we can get the three points.

“We are wary of the Singapore No 6, the midfielder (Singapore Sports School’s Akmal Azman) who can pass the ball very well. Singapore have improved, and are getting better every day.”

Only the top team from each of the 11 groups and the four best runners-up, will advance to the final hosted in India from Sept 15 to Oct 2 next year.

North Korea, who won the AFC Under-16 trophy last year, are aiming to top Group H in their bid to defend their title in India next September. “As defending champions, we are here to win all the matches ... (But) in a football game, you never know,” said head coach Kim Yong Hun.

“There is no weak team in the group. They just have different styles,” said Kim. “But there is a difference between artificial and natural turf. We had the first training yesterday so we are getting used to it. But I don’t think there will be any problem.”

The championships’ final group match will see Singapore take on Cambodia on Sunday in a rematch of their recent AFF tournament group B clash that ended in a goalless draw. Cambodian coach Iki Yusuke is hopeful that his charges will perform better here.

“This is a very strong group with North Korea and Thailand,” he said. “Even Singapore is strong at home but we did a lot of training for this competition and hope to use our experience in the AFF U16 Championship to spring a surprise.” ADELENE WONG