| NAKHON RATCHASIMA (18 Jan 2010) – A delightful swerving free kick from the mercurial Sutee Suksomkit early in the second-half gave Thailand a well-deserved 1-0 win over Singapore in their opening match of the 40th edition of the King’s Cup yesterday.
The score at the end of the first-half in the game that was played at His Majesty the King’s 80th Birthday Anniversary Stadium in Nakhon Ratchasima was 0-0. “Our defence played well and showed good discipline,” said Thailand’s head coach, Bryan Robson. Buoyed by a capacity crowd of 20,000, the hosts got into their game early with an attempt from Sutee which was well received by Singapore custodian Hassan Sunny. But Thailand should have taken the lead in the 21st minute but a rebounder from Teerathep Winothai was wasted by Datsakorn Thonglao who blasted it over. With the scored tied scoreless at the half, the marching orders on Teerathep following a second yellow card offence just minutes after the restart put pressure on the Thais. But Thailand stood to their gun and when striker Kirati Kaowsom was fouled on the edge of the area in the 59th minute, Sutee was on hand to fire home the free-kick for what turned out to be the winner. The Thais should have wrapped up things up in the 75th minute when they were awarded with a penalty but Sutee’s attempt and then the rebounder from Therdsak was well saved by Sunny. “Most of our players are inexperienced so they performed well in the circumstances,” said Singapore head coach Radojko Avramovic. In the meantime, defending champions Denmark opened their campaign with a 3-1 beating of Poland. The Danes were on target off Soren Risks, Morten Rasmussen and Jesper Bech as Peszko Slawomir scored the only goal for the Poles. On Wednesday, Thailand will play Poland while Singapore will take on Denmark. |
