Thai Olympic warm-up match ends in draw

Nationmultimedia - The Thai squad was not able to give local fans a victory and settled for a 1-1 draw in a warm-up match against the Paas Tehran team from Iran at Rajamangala Stadium yesterday.

Srayuth Chaikamdee, the star of last year’s SEA Games, broke the ice in the 11th minute when Nutthapon Panrit, the left back, sent a cross into the Paas box and Srayuth fired past the Iranian keeper from five yards out.

However, in the 38th minute the Iranians equalised when veteran playmaker Khodadad Azizi put a header into the net. The half time score was 1-1.

In the second half, both teams played defensively and showed no signs of fatigue, but neither side could score the winner. After the match Thai head coach Carlos Roberto Carvalho said he would announce the starting line-up for the World Cup qualifying match against the UAE today 9 after a training session.

“I’ll announce the team line-up tomorrow and in my opinion, Kiattisak Senamuang and Srayuth Chaikamdee will be the perfect striking duo for the World Cup qualifying match against the UAE,” he said.

“Now I’m worried about players from the Krungthai Bank and BEC Tero Sasana teams. They will compete in the AFC Champions League on February 10 and 11 and might get injured during the competition,” he added.