Filipino booters succumb to Thais, pouring rain

A heavy downpour doomed the Philippine national men’s football team in its opening match with host Thailand on Friday in the 50th King’s Cup at the Tinsulanon Stadium in Songkhla.

Head coach Albert Capellas said the heavy rainfall in the first half affected the Nationals’ performance due to the pitch becoming slippery.

Thai team captain Chanathip Songkrasin scored in the 53rd minute while Suphanat had a brace after scoring in the 68th and 87th minutes for the 3-1 victory.

Bjorn Kristensen was the only Filipino footballer to score a goal in the 63rd minute.

“I think we played a good first 20 minutes. The game was very equal, we had our chances, but so did Thailand,” Philippine team head coach Albert Capellas said.

“After the rain, it was a completely different game, one that had nothing to do with what we trained and from what we expected from a top game like this.”

The Philippines was already behind, 1-2, when Amani Aguinaldo was sent off in the 75th minute after his foot hit the abdomen of Poramet Arivirai while doing a sliding tackle.

With the Nationals now relegated to the bronze medal match, Capellas said it’s time for them to turn their focus on Tajikistan for Monday.

“The red card I need to see the red card more. I only saw one image, but I don’t know if on a field like this you can show a red card. With an action like this, on a field like this, in my point of view, it’s very strict, but it’s nothing we can ever change,” Capellas said.

“I respect the decision of the referees. But when the field is so wet, and players are sliding, we should consider this.”

“Once it was 10 versus 11, Thailand was the better team and they deserved to score one more for sure. Congratulations to Thailand and I hope in the next game we can play with 11 players and a good field.”