The Thai coach does not want to repeat the melee at the SEA Games

*Thailand - Indonesia: 8pm on Thursday 24/8, on MetaSports.

The 32nd SEA Games final on May 16 in Cambodia, in the second half of injury time, the referee cut the whistle for Thailand to enjoy a free kick. The Indonesian coaching staff mistakenly thought the whistle blew to end the game, jumping on the field to celebrate because they were leading 2-1. Immediately after the free kick, Thailand got on the ball and equalized 2-2. The players and their coaching staff rushed to the Indonesian technical area to celebrate the provocation, leading to a scuffle.

At the beginning of extra time, Indonesia raised the score to 3-2. This time, it was the turn of their coaching staff to rush to the Thai side to respond. The two sides then chased, punched, kicked, and slapped each other, creating chaos. When order was restored, the referee issued five red cards to the players and members of both teams. One of them was for Sophonwit, the main goalkeeper on the Thai side, leaving them with only 10 people. With the advantage over people, Indonesia scored two more goals, ending the match with a 5-2 victory to win the SEA Games gold medal for the first time.

The two teams then received a series of penalties from the Thai Football Federation as well as the Asian Football Confederation. Coach Issara Sritaro did not participate in the fight, so he continued to lead the U23 team.

Three months after the incident, he and the team reunited with Indonesia in the semi-final match of the Southeast Asian U23 tournament at home on August 24. When reminded of the scandal with Indonesia, Mr. Sritaro said: "That match is over. The next match will be different. My players will focus on this match, do their best for the goal of progressing. I hope tomorrow's conditions will be favorable, from the weather to the field, so that Thailand and Indonesia can have a good performance and develop together."

However, this morning, the Organizing Committee had a meeting to plan to increase security to ensure the match between Thailand and Indonesia.

Thailand is the number one candidate for the 2023 AFF U23 Championship. In addition to the home advantage, they are also in good form when they won all three matches against Myanmar, Brunei and Cambodia, scoring eight goals and not letting go. conceded a goal.

Leading Indonesia at the moment is not coach Indra Sjafri, but coach Shin Tae-yong, who also holds the national team. The Korean leader is facing a lot of criticism when the team does not perform well in the group stage. They lost against Malaysia 1-2 and struggled to win Timor Leste 1-0. In the last round of Group C yesterday, if Vietnam lost to the Philippines by no more than three goals, Indonesia would be eliminated. However, thanks to teachers and coach Hoang Anh Tuan winning 1-0, the team of thousands of islands won the second place in the excellent table with tickets to the semi-finals.

When asked if Indonesia should thank Vietnam, coach Shin replied: "I thank you. But in my opinion, football must be played beautifully and fairly. Yesterday Vietnam played football. Thank you, I think I should say the match between Vietnam and the Philippines is worth watching. It's different from the match at the U19 tournament last year, Vietnam and Thailand didn't play, just passed it back and forth."

Coach Shin's share was full of implication, when recalling the match in the group stage of the 2022 Southeast Asian U19 tournament. At that time, Vietnam and Thailand drew 1-1 in the last match of Group A, entering the semi-finals. Meanwhile, Indonesia was eliminated despite beating Myanmar 5-1 in the match at the same time to have 11 points together. Public opinion in the land of thousands of islands at that time was boiling, saying that the two opponents shook hands to eliminate the host.

Vietnam then reunited with Thailand in the final, winning 5-3 in the penalty shootout after drawing 1-1 over 90 minutes.