PETALING JAYA: “We want to meet Indonesia in the final because they are a better team than Malaysia.”
This was the frank opinion of Thai striker Sittichok Kannoo, ahead of his team’s 2017 Sea Games football semi-final match against Myanmar, which kicks off at the Stadium Majlis Perbandaran Selayang, this evening.
Sittichok, a former youth player for Buriram United, says he isn’t interested in squaring off with Ong Kim Swee’s boys, whom he deems are inferior to Indonesia.
Indonesia, he said, are a better side compared to Malaysia, whom he believes merely relies on the mammoth home support to carve out victories.
“The Malaysian backline is fragile. Their strikers are also ineffective, especially when facing stronger sides such as Indonesia.
“We also beat Malaysia before (3-0) at the AFC Cup U-23 qualifiers in Bangkok, last month.
“In fact, even in the Sea Games group matches, you can see the porous nature of the Malaysian defence.
“This is in stark contrast with Indonesia, who we think are the best Southeast Asian side at the moment. We’ve met them twice at the AFC Cup qualifiers and in the Sea Games group matches; both ended in a tie.
“So my pick is Indonesia for us to meet in the final, provided we beat Myanmar later,” said Sittichok, who now plays for Thai Honda Ladkrabang.
Thailand topped Group B after easily swatting aside Vietnam 3-0 in the last group match to collect 13 points, followed by Indonesia in second place with 11 points.
Meanwhile, Myanmar forward Aung Kaung Mann said his team have the advantage of being fresher compared to Thailand, who had only one day’s rest.
“Give our five day break, I’m certain that we’ll take the field more rejuvenated and motivated for our semi-final match.
“Thailand will definitely be more tired as they played more matches compared to the Group A teams and they also had just one day to recharge. We’ll be exploiting these to our advantage,” he said.
Translated from Harian Metro