Thailand Held to a Disappointing Draw by Ten Man Oman

Bryan Robson’s Thailand were held to a disappointing 1-1 draw by Oman in the group stages of the Asian Games.

Oman are ranked slightly higher than Thailand by FIFA but the initiative was handed to the Thai team when Oman captain Mohamed Saghayar Jaber was dismissed after only 20 minutes.

Jaber tangled with Teerasil Dangda and the Thai striker went down. Although the incident was a long way from the Oman goal the referee deemed the defender to have prevented a clear goalscoring opportunity and showed him a straight red.

Up until that point the closest that Thailand had come was from a well struck Wichaya Dechmitr free kick which was tipped over the bar. After Jaber’s dismissal Robson’s team made their numerical advantage tell to dominate the remainder of the game.

After 26 minutes Dangda went down in the penalty area after some intelligent link up play with Datsakorn Thonglao. The referee felt that the contact had been insufficient to warrant the award of a penalty and waved away the striker’s protests.

Dangda had a glorious chance to put his side ahead when he combined well with Wichaya Dechmitr and burst through on goal only to be denied by a fine save. The rebound fell kindly for him but with the goal at his mercy he somehow contrived to drag his shot wide.

Thonglao, who like Dangda scored twice in the 6-0 victory over Pakistan, had a very presentable chance of his own after 38 minutes but blazed wastefully over the bar after the ball had fallen kindly for him in the penalty area.

It was all one way traffic by this stage with ten man Oman showing minimal attacking ambition. It seemed only a matter of time before Thailand found the breakthrough and it duly arrived on the stroke of half time.

Anawin Jujeen got to the right hand touchline and pulled the ball back for Thonglao who quite simply couldn’t miss. The goal was no more than Thailand deserved after subjecting the Oman defence to almost constant scrutiny.

There was still time for a late twist when, with the seconds ticking away in first half injury time, Oman were awarded a free kick on the edge of the Thailand penalty area. Ahmed Hadid stepped up and curled an unstoppable shot into the top right hand corner of the net leaving highly rated Thai goalkeeper Kawin Thamsatchanan rooted to the spot.

The second half started with Thailand once again in the ascendancy and the first chance fell to Thonglao on 53 minutes. He was played in with a defence splitting pass by Dangda only to be denied by the Oman keeper.

Disaster almost struck for Thailand after 64 minutes when, completely against the run of play, Walid Al Saadi found himself bearing down on goal. He should have given his side an undeserved lead but instead poked his shot wide of the right hand post.

Thailand continued to press but, unable to forge clear cut chances, were all too often forced to try their luck from range. Dangda came closest, grazing the top of the crossbar with a 25 yard drive.

The frustration was etched across the faces of the Thai players as the final whistle sounded. While the emphatic nature of the win over Pakistan means that a first place finish is still within their grasp this was a match which Robson’s team could and should have won.

Thailand’s final group game against Maldives is scheduled for Thursday with Maldives and Pakistan in action later tonight.