Raddy: Come and get it, Thailand Singapore coach Radojko Avramovic has challenged Thailand to wrestle away the Asean Football Championship crown from the defending champions, ahead of the first leg of the Final at the National Stadium on Wednesday.
Having already downed traditional rivals Malaysia 5-4 on penalties in an epic second leg semi-final over the weekend, the Serbian issued a ‘come and get it’ cry to three-time champions Thailand, the most successful team in the history of the competition.
"We (Singapore) are still the defending champions," he said at the pre-match press conference on Tuesday. "Thailand will have to be at their best to beat us." "It will be a close game and it wonÂ’t be decided tomorrow. You have two equally strong teams and the team that plays better in both legs will win it."
Despite Thailand seemingly holding the proverbial Indian sign over the Lions as long as most people can remember, Avramovic feels history and statistics matter little in a big game like this. "This is now what I would call real football atmosphere. It is a shame that we donÂ’t get many big international games like this more often," said Avramovic.
"I donÂ’t care what happened in the past. Tomorrow is a brand new game, Thailand are playing with a new team and we are playing with a new team. So the result tomorrow will have nothing to do with what happened in the past. "The result tomorrow will depend on what happens on the pitch tomorrow."
Thavatchai: Happy with a drawMeanwhile, Thailand team manager Thavatchai Sajakul is keen to play down his side's chances in this upcoming first leg. "It is a worthy final," he said. "Of course both teams have a 50-50 chance of winning it and we hope we will be able to get a positive result tomorrow.
"Everytime I watch Singapore play (in the competition), I can see that they have improved from their previous game. It will not be easy for us." "Because of that, we would be happy with a point (draw)."
Modesty and gamesmanship aside, Thavatchai's approach ahead of the match probably stems from the fact that Thailand had to travel down from Bangkok after their goalless draw against Vietnam on Sunday, while the hosts for the first leg have had an extra day's rest.
Also, they will be missing the services of their talismanic captain and forward Kitisuk Senamuang. "We have four to five players who are still not fully fit. Even if they play tomorrow they will only be 60% to 70% fit. We will look at these players again tomorrow and then decide whether we can play them or not."
Midfielders Datasakorn Thonglao and Nirut Surasiang, as well as right sided defender Suree Sukha, are still carrying knocks suffered earlier in the competition, Thavatchai revealed. The man known as 'The Big Boy' also said that he did not think that playing in front of an expected full-house will necessarily affect his players too much.
"But I have watched Singapore games on television and I can say that your supporters really make it frightening for the opposition. You can almost feel the vibrations through the TV!" The second leg of the final will be played at BangkokÂ’s Suphachalasai Stadium on Sunday, February 4.