Any hopes that Thailand might finally get their World Cup campaign up and running disappeared into the night air in Tehran. Iraq simply brushed them aside in a comprehensive 4-0 victory.
In the last match report I wrote that Thailand are in need of a commanding centre-back who can organize the defence. I had no idea just how prophetic those words were to be.
The defence was a total shamles from when Thailand fell behind after only seven minutes. Iraq striker Abdulraheem M. helped himself to all four goals and the only mystery was how Thailand managed to be only two goals down at the break.
The Iraqui’s missed chance after chance and if the score had been 6-0 at half-time, Thailand could not have complained. The marking at the back was non-existant as Iraq poured forward at will.
There is no point describing the goals, ball comes into the box, ball turned back across goal, several Iraquis unmarked, easy finish from close range would cover all four.
Thailand never got going as an attacking force as when they did manage to get hold of the ball, they gave it straight back again.
The visitors did improve a little in the second-half and exerted some pressure but didn’t really trouble the keeper. However twenty-minutes from time Thailand were reduced to ten men .
Whilst waiting for a Theerathon free-kick to be delivered into the Iraqui box, Koravit got involved in one of those stupid shirt-pulling, arm grabbing tussles.
It ended with an Iraqui defender claiming he’d been struck in the mouth. The referee agreed and showed Koravit a straight red. Whether actual contact was made or not is irrelevant, it shouldn’t have happened.
Somehow the score remained at 2-0 before Abdulraheem struck in the 87 and 90+4 minutes to give the scoreline a more realistic look.
This was far and away the worst Thailand performance I have seen and in one Iraqui attack, they had a three on one with the Thai keeper, and MISSED !
Where Thailand go from here in their remaining World Cup qualifiers is uncertain. In previous games they have suffered from bad luck. However, they had plenty of good luck in this game, it could’ve been 10 !!!