Thailand took a firm grip on their Suzuki Cup semi-final against Myanmar with a well-deserved 2-0 victory in the away leg. The War Elephants were in complete control from start to finish as the home side could only threaten on the odd occasion.
Once again Teerasil was the hero, with two beautifully taken goals in either half to leave Myanmar with a mountain to climb in the second-leg in Bangkok on Thursday.
Thailand were fluent, moved the ball wide whenever they could and had their opponents at full stretch for much of the game. Chanathip ran the midfield and the only surprise was the score was not more convincing.
Thailand eventually took the lead in the twenty-third minute minute when Chanathip played Teerasil in and the striker advanced into the box before lashing the ball high into the net from fourteen yards.
It was almost two a minute later when Krookrit’s deft chip came back off the crossbar. It could have got much worse for Myanmar shortly before the interval when Htan was very fortunate to receive only a yellow card for a dreadful two-footed challenge.
The home side did get the ball in the net shortly after but it was ruled out due to a narrow but correct offside decision.
Thailand continued where they left off in the second-half and Teerasil put the game to bed with his second in the fifty-fourth minute. He collected the ball thirty-five yards out, turned his marker, skipped past another before finding the net with a perfectly placed low shot from sixteen yards.
That was job done and Thailand could be well-pleased with their night’s work. It was an excellent performance in front of a sell-out 32,000 crowd. However, the tie is only half-over and it is important that Thailand send their fans home happy in the second-leg.