Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Bangkok: Two goals in a two-minute spell from second-half substitutes Adisak Kraisorn and Tana Chanabut saw Thailand tame a tenacious Chinese Taipei, with Thursday’s 4-2 victory taking the ASEAN champions eight points clear of Iraq at the top of Group F in the 2018 FIFA World Cup/2019 AFC Asian Cup joint-qualifiers.
Yen Tavio stunned the home side when the Spain-born defender put Chinese Taipei one up with just three minutes at the Rajamangala Stadium gone only for Teerasil Dangda, who scored both goals as the Thais defeated the visitors 2-0 in Taipei earlier in the campaign, to cancel out the naturalised defender's opener with four minutes of the first half remaining.
Pokklaw A-nan, scorer of Thailand’s winner over Vietnam in the first match of the second round of joint-qualifiers back in May, put the 2014 AFF (ASEAN Football Federation) Suzuki Cup champions 2-1 up seven minutes after the interval only for Huang Kai-chun to pull Chinese Taipei level in the 65th minute.
But the Thais were not to be denied their fourth win of the qualifiers and after Adisak - a 63rd minute replacement for Mongkol Tossakrai - had restored Thailand’s lead in the 72nd minute fellow substitute Tana gave the hosts some breathing space with number four two minutes later, having only entered the fray four minutes earlier when he came on for Kroekrit Thawikan.
The win took Kiattisuk Senamuang’s undefeated side to 13 points from five matches, eight clear of 2007 AFC Asian Cup winners Iraq, who have played to games less than the Thais.
The group winners and four best runners-up (total 12 teams) will advance to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup finals and the final round of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
The next best 24 teams from the preliminary stage of the joint qualifiers will compete in a separate competition for the remaining slots (12 slots or 11 slots + 1 slot for the host) in the 24-team 2019 Asian Cup.