Bangkok [Thailand], October 3: The Thai national team had secured a place in the FIFA ASEAN Cup final, but their shocking 1-2 defeat to the Philippines on October 2nd caused the "War Elephants" to drop in the FIFA rankings. Fans in the country fiercely questioned coach Hudson.
Thailand's disastrous defeat
The result of the match against the Philippines did not affect Thailand's qualification for the FIFA ASEAN Cup final. However, underestimating their opponent and losing the match caused them significant damage. The "War Elephants" lost 6.57 points in the FIFA rankings, dropping to 93rd in the world.
"This defeat directly affected Thailand's FIFA ranking, resulting in a deduction of 6.57 points. This completely negated the points accumulated from victories against Pakistan (+1.71 points) and Vietnam (+4.87 points) - a total of +6.58 points - leaving a net increase after the group stage of only +0.01 points," Siamsport criticized.
The Thai national team currently has accumulated 1,252.27 points (as of October 3rd), and has unfortunately dropped from 90th to 93rd in the world rankings due to a loss to the Philippines.
They are still ranked 14th in Asia. However, Coach Hudson's team has received fierce criticism from fans. They also questioned Coach Hudson about why he allowed his team to perform so inconsistently, even after the win against Vietnam, seemingly waiting for opportunities, Siamsport added.
Meanwhile, the Vietnamese team gained 1.80 points from their 4-2 victory against Pakistan on October 2nd. This brings their current accumulated points on the FIFA rankings to 1,237.62.
The Vietnamese team remains ranked 99th in the world, but their points are very close to those of the teams ranked just above them, namely Mozambique (98th) and Belarus (97th), who have accumulated 1,238.23 and 1,238.76 points respectively.
If coach Kim Sang-sik's team wins the FIFA ASEAN Cup third-place match against Malaysia (at 4 PM on October 5th), they are highly likely to jump up the FIFA rankings.
Thanks to their unexpected victory against Thailand, the Philippines also rose to 135th in the world rankings. The Indonesian team climbed to 117th, while Malaysia is ranked 136th in the world.
Coach Hudson explains why Thailand lost to the Philippines.
According to Siamsport , coach Hudson defended Thailand's loss to the Philippines by saying that he rotated the squad to prepare the best possible lineup for the final match against host nation Indonesia (at 8 PM on October 5th).
"We made 8-9 changes to the starting lineup to give our key players a rest. Since the Thai team had already secured their place in the final after the second match, the decision to rest 5-7 key players in this game was a strategic move to ensure the entire team was in top physical condition for the championship match," Coach Hudson explained.
According to Coach Hudson: "The final is against Indonesia, a strong opponent with the home advantage and passionate fans. Therefore, we have to prepare very well to cope. Resting key players and rotating the squad are all part of our preparation plan for this important final match."
Despite a somewhat reasonable explanation, coach Hudson still received much criticism regarding the Thai team's playing style, their approach to the game, and their excessive caution, according to Siamsport.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper