MTU 2 Korat 0 - FA Cup report

A quiet game that saw a few first-teamers rested (Mario and Dagno were subs) and the likes of Arthit given a chance.

We did the business thanks to Edivaldo and Paulo.

I felt that Korat played some good football and showed some spirit, Korat FC fan Vinnie disagreed, feeling his side showed a lack of grit.

We now face Army Utd in the quarters.

Chonburi 2 Muangthong United 2 - report

Apologies for not reporting on the big game earlier. Actually perhaps I should say "Super Big Match" as it was billed by the Thai media, who have a knack of creating such lovable yet cringe-makingly naive tags. The Man U Vs Liverpool game is billed in True Visions Magazine as the "Mega Red War" for another example.

Chonburi predictably gave us a tough test and came out of the traps fast but on both occasions when they took the lead, that “winning mentality” was enough to pull us back into the game, courtesy of a close range slot in by Adnan and yet another Teerasil moment.

The perfomances of the last two games are actually less important than the results. Both Buriram and Chonburi honorably stated before their respective clashes with us that they were going for a win. They each desperately needed it not only for the points but the change in psyche it could bring about. Neither side got it.

If Chonburi and Buriram battle to a draw in their upcoming fixture - as we must hope - then we surely have one hand on the TPL title.

MOTM: Piyapol Buntao remained active down the right side throughout and caused more than a couple of headaches for The Sharks.

PS Credit to Ben for pointing out the time-wasting they Chonburi seem to employ so often.

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Port 0 MTU 2 - Toyota Cup

With Kawin, Mario, Siaka and others getting rested, this was a very even game against a battling Port side. Two super-clinical strikes from Paulo settled the tie and puts us into the next round. The treble is still on course.

Good job, guys!

Muangthong United 1 Buriram United 1 - Report

Marching to the tile

There's never any shortage of intensity when these two play each other and this game was no different. Buriram took the lead through the nippy Frank Achempong early on but the Quilins raised their game and in the second half Buriram's goalie - no stranger to controversy - decided that nobody would notice if he attempted a WWE-style suplex on Pitchipong in the area. The (imported) referee did notice, but decided pro-wrestling suplexes necessitated only a yellow card. Up stepped the super one to take the spot kick. Mario is more of a 'Matt Le Tiss' penalty taker than a 'Julian Dicks' style, so he placed the shot in the corner, sending the home crowd into rapture.

The game really picked up from there. Mario took a diving head that agonisingly came off the woodwork and out, before Piyapol - some reports have mixed his name up with Panupong - took a second yellow and conceded what I felt was a soft penalty decision by the ref.

Now let me rave for a second here: Kawin produced an awesome "pistols at dawn" stare in Suchao's direction before the kick and lived up to it with a superb save. Our keeper is awesome. Thank you.


Down to ten men, we rode out the final moments of the game under pressure, including a superb goal-stopping deflection by Ri who - according to a certain person - was suspended. Buriram's late goal was disallowed, apparently as a player was offside but not interfering, and moved back onside before the goal was scored. It was harsh on the visitors but as I've said before, the "not interfering with play" clause doesn't seem to exist to Thai or Asian officials.

The final score was one all, which suits us far more than our rivals. The foreign ref was inconsistent and made some poor decisions, but Buriram's late non-goal may well never have happened if they had been reduced to ten men and a reserve goalie as they clearly should have, so we could argue that the poor decisions balanced out. At least it was refreshing to see little toleration of play-acting and petulance.

Matt Riley has reported of some bizarre and most unsporting behaviour from people who should know better, but that aside, we can at least reflect on a good game of football.


Man of the Match:

Every time I think he's peaked, Pitchipong Chochieu comes back better than ever. He's not a "star name" but he's been integral to our squad for more than 3 years. May he stay another 3+. Also well worth a mention is Ri Kwan, who is really adapting to the Thai game and looking as solid as Zesh was in the same shirt number.


Full game:

MTU v Buriram preview review

Ahead of arguably the biggest game in Thai football's history ( I can hear several people jumping in line to take offence to that already!) let's take a look back at some preview build up between the MTU and Buriram PEA/United games.

Preview of MTU V Buriram PEA 2010 - An introduction to the Buriram 'experience'

Buriram PEA V MTU - the first time we realised something was deeply wrong.

MTU V Buriram 2010 build up 1

MTU V Buriram 2010 build up 2

2011 FA Cup Final report


Ben has already covered more recent meetings.

Even the 0-0 draw at home last season was a very interesting game. I expect this weekend's clash to be no different. Expect good football, expect loud cheering.

A foreign ref has been appointed for the game. No injuries emerged from the utterly pointless Thailand V TPL 'All Stars' game this week so we should have a full squad to choose from.

I envision - Kawin, Kayem, Ri, Panupong, Nawapol (?), Datsakorn, Siaka, Jakkaphan (played well last time), Pitchipong, Mario and Mui.
Bench: Kone, Adnan, Paulo, Saharut, Edivaldo, a defender and a goalie.

The beautiful people

There's just something familiar about so many of the faces in these photos.

(credit: MTU Facebook page)

Shirts are expensive but business is booming

Press and fans are frenzied for the upcoming Buriram game

Which way are TTM going?

Familiar faces

Kawin loves Mum

Finally, North Americans who like a real sport :-)

Next up......

MTU 3 Pattaya Utd 2

In an exciting, back and forth game, we came from behind more than once to beat Pattaya with goals from Paulo, Mario and Pitchipong.

Pattaya looked confident and up for it after their result against the champions and really piled on the pressure, but one thing about going undefeated for as long as we have is that it breeds huge confidence under pressure. Sure enough, we found the goals we needed. We should've had a fourth and a second for Paulo but it was disallowed for offside, wrongly, in my opinion.

We really look every part the champs - strength in depth, excellent teamwork and team spirit, no areas of weakness and goals coming from all over the squad.We have a chance to effectively kill off the challenge of defending champs Buriram Utd next Saturday. If we can manage that, we need "only" to beat Chonburi at their place the following week or see them slip a couple more times to start edging towards mathematical certainty.

It's in our grasp

I've been wary of saying it beforehand but I'll say it now: the title is ours to lose from here on.
******
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/sports/306754/muang-thong-extend-lead-with-win-over-insee-police



SCG Muang Thong United extended their lead to 12 points after beating Insee Police United 2-1 in the Thai Premier League last night.


Second-placed Chonburi FC could only manage a scoreless draw at Chiang Rai United, while defending champions Buriram United suffered another setback as they lost 1-0 at Pattaya United.

At Thammasat stadium, Phichitphong Cheuichiu gave Muang Thong the lead after just nine minutes and Teerasil Dangda made it 2-0 in the 22nd minute.

Police fought back and five minutes later Surachart Sareepim cut the deficit to 2-1.

In an ill-tempered second half, Insee Police were reduced to 10 men late on when Daniel Alberto de Melo was sent off for elbowing Teerasil.




*****


An interesting point from Malky at his blog. :

Muangthong now hold a 12 point advantage over their rivals and the last time that I can recall such an advantage being spunked, was back in 1996 when Kevin Keegan's Toon Army self-imploded allowing Fergie's Manchester United youngsters to win the EPL. On comparison, you cant compare MTU to the gung-ho, defensively naive Newcastle team of 96, or likewise none of the title chasers vaguely possess the attacking craft of Manchester United.

MTU 2 CRU 0 - report + highlights

Alessandro who?

Not a game for the purists, this clash was played out in rain and an atmosphere of intimidation from CRU players who surrounded the ref and behaved very aggressively towards him on frequent occasions.

Not to say that we were angels int his department though and in reality Siaka - as much as we love him - was very lucky to stay on the pitch. But at least we managed to keep 11 players on the pitch, CRU didn’t, Issawa saw red after a challenge on Datsakorn. Issawa’s boots connected with Thonglao’s face which sounds evil but in fairness, I do believe that it was a case of two simultaneous sliding tackles and Issawa was perhaps slightly unfortunate.

On the occasions when football actually broke out, we looked good. Our team of Kawin (GK) , Kayem (LB, now Wears his first name on his shirt), Panupong (CB), Ri (CB), Piyapol (playing RB/WRB), Datsakorn (Capt, CM), Siaka (DM/AM) Barakat (CM), Pitchipong (CM),  Pornsai (wing), Teerasil (ST) played some of the beautiful passing and crossover play that we are capable of.

The goals from Teerasil and the super one (on for Pitchipong) were both well taken. Mario’s vision and change of pace is a joy to watch at times.

With Chonburi held to a goalless draw by TTM and Buriram still struggling to close the gap, we are exactly where we want to be. Keep up the great work lads.

Man of the match
A tough one here but I’m going to give it to Ri on account of his work rate throughout the game, always closing down and physical CRU side.

MTU 2 Hat Yai 1

Looks like we underestimated the D2 team from the deeply troubled region of Hat Yai yesterday. Don't get me wrong, we have quality in our reserve squad but I wonder if we dodn't give them 100% respect.

A late goal from HY was cancelled out by a penalty awrded to MTU and the response from the away fans was predictable. I totally understand their despair and sense of indignation - the clip below shows it was a lucky penalty, but they had some lucky decisions, too, including a saved penalty - but that does not excuse the actions of the team or the fans. Hat Yai's number 7, in particular, should be dealt with.

In both cases this is now becoming commonplace in Thailand and I worry that before long - if it hasn't happened already - people will culturally assimilate it, i.e. they'll just shrug and say "That's how Thai fans do things". The TFA needs to deal with this by handing out harsh punishments whenever it happens. The more often these incidents go unpunished or with a tiny, insignificant fine, the harder it becomes to deal with it in future.

Congratulations to Paulo for his goal.