Thailand's leader is injured

Theerathon fell to the ground despite not hitting anyone. The 32-year-old defender has suffered a recurrence of a hamstring injury and is unlikely to be able to recover in time to play the next match, when Thailand is a guest of Indonesia on December 29.

"I just feel a muscle tension. The injury doesn't seem to be very serious," Theerathon revealed to Thairath about the injury. In the post-match press conference, Thai coach Mano Polking said he was confident Theerathon would recover in time to play against Indonesia even though he only had three days to rest.

Not only playing the role of a spiritual leader, Theerathon is the player who has the greatest influence on Thailand's play at AFF Cup 2022. He is ranked as a central midfielder, instead of a left-back as his forte. This player's passes are the powerful weapon of "War Elephants". Theerathon created the most chances in the Thai squad in the past two matches. In the 5-0 victory over Brunei, three of Thailand's five goals had his shoe prints. When winning against the Philippines, Theerathon's free kick helped Teerasil Dangda to head, opening the scoring.

Many fans also praised Theerathon when he quickly ran out of the field to get water for Japanese referee Yudai Yamamoto in the middle of the match. The hot weather in Thailand seems to have caused Mr. Yamamoto to lose more water than expected and experience cramps. Theerathon also helped the Philippine medical team bring water to the exhausted players.