Thailand were one in every of the surprise qualifiers for the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup™, bursting onto the world stage with an epic play-off win over Vietnam, and even made their debut with an action-packed 3-2 win over Ivory Coast.
Four years on, they’re in a superb position to repeat that success and qualify for a second successive Women’s World Cup. To accomplish that, they’ll need to complete in the highest five on the AFC Women’s Asian Cup, which begins in Jordan on Friday.
In a bunch with China, the Philippines and the hosts, Thailand must finish in the highest two to book a ticket to the 2019 French Championships. Third place will mean a gruelling play-off, likely against Japan, Australia or South Korea.
Experience and youth
Four years ago, Orathai Srimanee made headlines when she scored twice in that victory in Ottawa. Srimanee, who can be a veteran of Thailand, which hosted the 2004 FIFA U-19 Women’s World Cup, believes her team is significantly better prepared for fulfillment than it was before the 2015 Canada qualifiers.
“We have had some amazing experiences recently,” Srimanee said. FIFA.com“We faced a variety of big teams and since then we have now tried to play against even larger teams. Now we also attempt to address players with a physical advantage.
“Our current team is way more energetic [than four years ago]We now have latest players who’ve previously played for the Thailand U-19 team.
“There are also 4 or five players who’ve never played for Thailand in a world tournament. These latest girls bring a variety of enthusiasm to the team, which makes us play a really lively brand of football now.”
🇹🇭 Thailand have appeared within the AFC Women’s Asian Cup 15 times. Their only title got here in 1983. Will they have the option to repeat the miracle of #WAC2018? photo: twitter.com/5wC50Un9DQ
— #WAC2018 (@theafcdotcom) April 4, 2018
The desire to encourage
Football in Thailand is undoubtedly on the rise, with Thai club teams having fun with several breakthrough victories up to now few seasons of the AFC Champions League, while the national team qualified for next 12 months’s AFC Asian Cup for the primary time in 15 years.
The Thai women’s team are three-time defending Southeast Asian champions and their popularity is starting to spread beyond the region. However, Srimanee believes qualifying for France is crucial to the continued development of the local game.
“It’s very important to get back into the Women’s World Cup,” she said. “Not only are we attempting to make history, however the value of playing within the Women’s World Cup can encourage a variety of young girls to play football.
“Before the 2015 Women’s World Cup, we didn’t really attract much interest from fans. After our performance in Canada, a variety of fans began following us, and now we have now fans who fly from far-off to return and watch our matches.
“I feel that Thailand is moving up within the rankings on the Asian level, but on the worldwide stage there remains to be quite a bit to do. Even in ASEAN [southeast Asia] level, there are good competitors like Vietnam and Myanmar that we’d like to concentrate on. There remains to be quite a bit to do. But I feel that the success of our national team generally is a cornerstone for further growth in Thai women’s football.”
Happy Birthday, girls team! Continue to make us proud!
Source : http://www.fifa.com/womensworldcup/news/y=2018/m=4/news=thailand-chase-return-to-world-stage.html
