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AFF Suzuki Cup


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The AFF Suzuki Cup is due to start tomorrow. I'm not sure how much coverage it will receive in the UK but it's quite a big deal in this neck of the woods. Thailand are favourites with holders Singapore a close second.

 

I was hoping to go to Thailand's opening match on Saturday but, due to the recent problems in BKK, it has been moved to Phuket, a fourteen hour drive away!! So, I'll have to watch it on TV. Hopefully the knockout rounds and final will be played in the capital later this month.

 

If anyone (other than Ackey ;)) is interested, the official website can be found here :

 

http://www.affsuzukicup.com/

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The AFF Suzuki Cup is due to start tomorrow. I'm not sure how much coverage it will receive in the UK but it's quite a big deal in this neck of the woods. Thailand are favourites with holders Singapore a close second.

 

Peter Reid was on TalkSport with Hawksbee and Jacobs earlier this aternnon from Phuket. He said how impressed he was with the application and skilll of the players.

 

Up the Brewers!

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Peter Reid was on TalkSport with Hawksbee and Jacobs earlier this aternnon from Phuket. He said how impressed he was with the application and skilll of the players.

 

Up the Brewers!

 

I speak with him on a regular basis (ooh, get me ;)) and he is a top bloke. He is also very positive about the Thai team's potential. I think that he can take us pretty far. World Cup qualification is a huge job but he seems to have the respect of the players and the support of the fans so, who knows.

 

Winning this tournament would be a start.

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I speak with him on a regular basis...

 

Next time you speak to him, will you ask him about the second Maradona goal in the 1986 World Cup - you know the one that's been voted the best goal ever. Reid escorted Maradona down the pitch, but at the crucial moment as the dirty cheat was about to shoot, the England defender slides in, and I've always thought that it was his own goal. If you watch the second replay on the video from behind the goal, pause it just as the commentator says "a goal to savour".

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-rW-lK9F6TU

 

Ask Reidy if the defender did put it in his own goal - his reaction certainly looks like it.

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I will ask him. In the meantime, watch this :

 

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=7qpKQqdO92I

 

Incidentally, PR has already told me that he thought that Alan Groves was one of the most gifted footballers he's ever seen.

 

Reidy kept up with him, in spite of the heat, but just escorted him admiringly, instead of attempting to get a tackle in. Gary Stevens is the one who knows the truth about whose goal it was, and he's unlikely to own up now it's been voted the best ever. He might have owned up in the dressing room at the time though.

 

Reidy is a good judge as far as Alan Groves is concerned.

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Sundays results.

 

Group A

 

Singapore 3 - 1 Myanmar

 

Cambodia 0 - 4 Indonesia

 

Singapore and Indonesia both qualify for the semi finals. They will play each other tomorrow to see who wins the group.

 

Todays fixtures.

 

Group B

 

Malaysia v Vietnam

 

Thailand v Laos

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Last nights results and todays fixtures

 

Group A

Myanmar 3 - 2 Cambodia

 

Indonesia 0 - 2 Singapore

 

Group B

Thailand v Malaysia (Malaysia need to win but Thailand only need to draw)

 

Vietnam v Laos (Vietnam already qualified. Laos out)

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Thailand 3 Malaysia 0

 

Vietnam 4 Laos 0

 

Semi Finals

 

16/12/2008 19:00 INDONESIA VS THAILAND 1st Leg

 

17/12/2008 19:00 VIETNAM VS SINGAPORE 1st Leg

 

20/12/2008 19:00 THAILAND VS INDONESIA 2nd Leg

 

21/12/2008 19:00 SINGAPORE VS VIETNAM 2nd Leg

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what sort of attendances are these games attracting ?

 

The first round of matches were played in Indonesia and Thailand.

 

The games in Indonesia, which featured the home side, attracted about 70,000. The other games had very sparse crowds.

 

Thailand had to move to Phuket, due to the airport blockade, but filled the stadium, 15,000, for their first two games. The third match, which kicked off at 5:00pm, had about 10,000. The other group games in Phuket kicked off with very few people inside the ground but had virtually filled up by the final whistle ready for the Thailand matches which followed.

 

The semi final first leg in Indonesia had about 80,000 and the, large stadium, in Vietnam was full.

 

We are expecting about 50/60,000 for our home leg tomorrow. It will be PR's first match in BKK and the Thais need a reason to all unite behind something at the moment so it should be a cracking atmosphere.

 

You can see highlights, and get an idea of the size of crowds, here :

 

http://www.espnstar.com/media-player/

 

 

Click on "Football", then "Asian Football", followed by "AFF Suzuki Cup" if the link doesn't take you straight to the highlights.

 

 

The National Stadium in Singapore will also be full on Sunday.

 

It's a really big deal in this part of Asia and it's good to see the local fans coming out in force.

Edited by ThaiLatic
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Thailand 2 Indonesia 1 (only the bloody Latics let me down yesterday!! Burton Albion went 8 points clear at the top of the Conference, M*n C*ty were dragged into the bottom 3 and Thailand won)

 

We came back from being one down to go through to the final 3-1 on aggregate. I was disappointed with Indonesia's negative, and sometimes blatant cheating, tactics after going one up. Still, they got what they deserved in the end :)

 

A crowd of about 40,000. There should be more for the 1st leg of the final on Wednesday.

 

Singapore v Vietnam kicks off in just under an hour. Come on, Vietnam!!

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Singapore 0 Vietnam 1.

 

What a great game!! Vietnam just about shaded it over the two legs and will meet Thailand in the final. Most of ASEAN is pleased that Singapore are out as they aren't that popular around here, because of their selection policy. It's more of an S-League Select XI than a national team.

 

First leg in BKK on Wednesday.

 

Second leg in Vietnam next Sunday.

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Semi Final 1st Leg

 

Thailand 1 Vietnam 2

 

A very well organised Vietnam went home with a deserved victory.

 

A 50,000 plus crowd and a cracking atmosphere. Just a shame about the result! However, I'm still hopeful that we can triumph in the second leg on Sunday.

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I'm pretty shocked by this result! The Thai's seem to have a much more sophisticated structure compared to the Vietnamese.

 

Why would anyone hate Singapore!? It's an awesome place! Their entire nation is a meltingpot of other nationalities so surely they have a right to play them all?

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I agree with you about Singapore, the country, it is a great place, if a little expensive. However, the issue with the national team is a slightly different one. They have a policy of fast-tracking foreign players from S-League clubs into the national team at the expense of Singaporean players.

 

Therefore the locally born players are the ones to miss out. This must be quite disheartening for them, especially if they've worked hard to get recognition only to be replaced by someone from Croatia/Nigeria/Australia who just happens to playing in the national league. This, for me and others, seems to defeat the object of having a national team.

 

As for Vietnam, the V-League pays much better than the TPL so, in the past, a lot of Thai players have made a decent living playing in Vietnam. It doesn't happen as much these days but Thai domestic football is still lagging behind quite a few ASEAN nations.

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The following were answers to questions posted on a Singapore football messageboard after the defeat against Vietnam. We've been debating them on a Thai football messageboard and can't decide whether or not the last one is meant to be sarcastic.

 

Here are the questions;

PollWith regards to the Singapore vs Vietnam second leg semi-final...

- I can't believe we lost. Breaks my heart.

- If all our players were fit, Singapore would have won.

- Singapore didn't deserve to lose. They were unlucky.

- Vietnam deserved to win 1-0.

- Vietnam were lucky to win 1-0.

- We need more foreign talents because obviously our local boys aren't good enough.

 

Second leg of the final tonight (KO 7:00pm local time. I'm sure that they'll announce the resut during H-T at BP). The head of FAT or FATHEAD, Worawi Makudi, has added spice to the tie by claiming that Thailand will withdraw from future AFF Cups unless the standard of refereeing improves - we had a 'goal' wrongly ruled out for offside in the first match. This guy is an absolute clown and the vast majority of Thai fans are embarrassed by him. The irony here is that the Thai referees leave an awful lot to be desired.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Vietnam 1 Thailand 1 (Agg3-2)

 

A disappointing result. We scored early on and had the better of the play but with extra time looming Vietnam scored in time added on to time added on. Sickener!!

 

Asian Cup qualifiers start next month so Reidy has a couple of weeks to build on what has been a promising start to his stewardship.

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