what chances for bangkok glass to defeat johor tomorrow? chonburi also a good team but kitchee also strong with their foreign players.
I think both Chonburi and Bangkok Glass will win, but I don't expect either match to be easy. I live in Hong Kong, I know Kitchee is a strong, professionally run opponent and they are in mid season form. Still, Chonburi is consistently good enough to beat them at home. Bangkok Glass I have less confidence in. Every year they seem to be approaching the the upper tier of Thai teams but they can't quite get there. They slay giants in cup competitions but finished last season with more losses than wins. Also they will be missing a couple of guys due to injury tonight: Supasek and Anuwat. Still, Leo Stadium is a terrifying place to play when the atmosphere is there. I think Bangkok Glass will show up and win. In support of their first ACL match tonight, here's the Bangkok Glass pop rock theme song! https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&persist_app=1&v=u6gYzV4gVyE
Comfortable wins for both Chonburi and Bangkok Glass tonight. Chonburi 4-1 Kitchee (Hong Kong) Bangkok Glass 3-0 Johor Darul Ta'zim (Malaysia) Next week is where it gets difficult for both teams. One more win will be enough to see either team reach the group stage, but both teams will be heavy underdogs on Tuesday. Chonburi visits Kashiwa Reysol (Japan) and Bangkok Glass visits Beijing Guoan (China).
TPL 2015 begins this week! Here's BKK Football Blog's take on each team going into the new season Part 1 and Part 2: Army United Army United are one of a clutch of mid-table sides that can appear half-decent one week and then the following week look awful. Slightly surprisingly, Gary Stevens remains in charge of team affairs. He didn’t do too badly in the second half of last year, yet at the same time he didn’t bring instant success which in Thai football usually results in a contact being terminated through mutual consent. Army have only registered Zdenko Kaprilik from last season’s foreign contingent. A blow was dealt when Raphael Botti was not included for the first leg due to medical reasons. Dutchman Melvin de Leeuw has caught the eye pre-season and he’ll be supported by the pacy Tangeni Shipahu and Kai Hirano. Those three should provide Army with plenty of ammunition and if Mongkol Tossakrai can replicate his form for the Thai national side during the AFF Suzuki Cup, then they should be able to secure their fourth successive top ten finish. Key Player: Melvin de Leeuw Last Season: 9th Bangkok Glass The Glass Rabbits finally won some domestic silverware after several years of disappointment. Can their FA Cup triumph three months ago be the catalyst for more success, or will BG revert to their inconsistent self? Ricardo Rodriguez comes in to manage the team after an impressive first season in Thai football at Ratchaburi in 2014. New arrivals include English-Australian defender Matt Smith from Brisbane Roar while King Leandro, as he was known by some at Singh Tarua, will add creativity and plenty of theatrical drama in the final third. Personally, I can’t see the Leandro move working as he has to be at the centre of everything. At Tarua he was allowed this luxury. At BG, he won’t necessarily be top of the pecking order and I can’t see this fit working. Yet again, a cup success appears their best route to silverware in 2015. Key Player: Darko Tasevski Last Season: 10th Bangkok United They finally found the right man to lead the squad when Mano Polking was appointed midway through last season. From the outside, it seems like a perfect fit as results in the second half of the previous season proved. Polking has raided his former side Suphanburi bringing in four players (Boskovic, Panupong, Putthinan & Kittipong) while at the same time retaining his best players. With a reported B200 million budget, anything less than a top 6 finish must be regarded as a failure. Key Player: Romain Gasmi Last Season: 8th BEC Tero Tero won their first trophy in the modern Thai football era claiming the League Cup in October 2014. At the recent AFF Cup and Asian U22 tournaments, they provided many members of the successful Thai sides. With youngsters like Messi Jay (Chanathip Songkrasin), Peerapat Notechaiya, Adisorn Promrak, Tanaboon Kesarat and new boy Adisak Kraisorn blossoming, the time is right for Tero to sustain a serious title bid. At the helm this year is Bozidar Bandovic who was briefly head coach at Buriram United last term. The only foreigner kept from last season is Gilbert Koomson. Former Chonburi players Fode Diakite and Ivan Boskovic join Koomson along with Serb Bojan Beljic and experienced Korean Son Dae Ho. Key Player: Chanathip Songkrasin Last Season: 3rd Buriram United Buriram claimed back-to-back titles despite some insipid performances in 2014. Many Buriram fans would concede that they won the title courtesy of the poor standard of opposition rather than their own convincing playing style. Last season, the squad looked a bit threadbare, particularly in the AFC Champions League. This has been addressed with several promising Thai youngsters recruited to fill the breach. Nonetheless, a few eyebrows were raised when Spaniards David Rochella and Carmelo Gonzalez were released – although Rochella has recently been resigned to feature in the domestic cups. Javier Patino was an injury concern and he has subsequently left to ply his trade in China. New foreign recruits include Brazilian front men Diogo and Gilberto Macena who’ll be backed up by Kayne Vincent formerly of Songkhla United. They will start the season as title favourites again but it could take them awhile to get into their stride as their early league campaign will be coupled with a testing AFC Champions league draw. Key Player: Andres Tunez Last Season: 1st Chainat The Hornbills begin their fourth season in the top league. They’ve yet to finish in the top half and only beat the drop by one point last season. During that campaign, goal scoring was a problem so they’ve addressed that issue by signing Michael Murcy from Police United and Brazilian Alex Maiolino. Chanin Sae-Eae was one of the best keepers in the TPL last year at Singh Tarua and they’ve managed to acquire his services after parent club Chonburi let him leave. Head coach Jadet Meelarp returned to Chonburi and he was quickly replaced by Thawatchai Damrong-Ongtrakul. Last season he had two unconvincing spells in charge at Police United and sandwiched in-between that he had another unimpressive few weeks at the helm of Bangkok United. A top half finish seems unlikely but they should have enough to avoid relegation. Key Player: Chanin Sae-Eae Last Season: 14th Chiang Rai United After scrapping a late rally of wins in 2013 to avoid the drop, last season was far more comfortable with a 7th placed finish. It’s been a fairly quiet off season with the most notable arrival being Brazilian striker, Renatinho. He’ll replace the departed Leandro Assumpcao. Last season’s top scorer Renan Marques has signed on for another season to ensure that goals won’t be scarce. With the nucleus of their 2014 squad still intact, they’ll be aspiring to build on the progress made last season. Key Player: Pichitpong Choeichiu Last Season: 7th Chonburi The Sharks were within touching distance of claiming the double in 2014 but in the end they walked away empty handed. The Chonburi faithful knew their favourites were punching well above their weight yet it still hurt them to be the bridesmaid once again. The meek FA Cup final loss and an incorrect linesman’s flag at Chainat still irk, while the resignation of Mashahiro Wada and the subsequent appointment of Jadet Meelarp hardly brightened the mood. However, with an attacking trident of Thiago Cunha, Juliano Mineiro and Leandro Assumpcao at their disposal, the side promises plenty of goals. At the back the ever reliable Anderson dos Santos remains as do Suttinan Phukhom and goalkeeper Kosin Sinthaweechai. The full back positions could be a concern as could the lack of a creative midfielder to pull the strings in the middle of the park. Some of the new Thai signings appear to have been randomly selected without any proper scouting which suggests Chonburi will fall short again in 2015. Key Player: Thiago Cunha Last Season: 2nd Muang Thong United For the second consecutive season, Muang Thong start a campaign with a coach who appears to be heading for the exit door before Easter. If anything, results and performances have gotten worse rather than better since Dragan Talajic took over in July last year. On the playing front, Teerasil Dangda returns after he predictably (at least to us western cynics) failed to make any impact at Almeria in La Liga. Cleiton Silva struggled to make an impression after he arrived last mid-season and MTU fans will be hopeful that he can’t rediscover the scoring touch he displayed at BEC Tero. Mario Gjurovski still remains despite the fact that it’s gone a bit stale for him while Kim Dong Jin will be joined in defence by former Japanese U23 internationalist Naoki Aoyama. Somewhat bizarrely, Muang Thong have decided not to fill their foreign complement with only four non-Thais registered in their squad. Key Player: Teerasil Dangda Last Season: 5th Nakhon Ratchasima Their finishing position this year is probably the most difficult of any to predict. Optimistic fans of the club will look towards 2014’s average attendances and they’ll see the title race as being a two horse race between themselves and Buriram United. On the other hand, the more pragmatic Swatcat won’t have forgotten that Korat were promoted from one of the weakest first divisions in years and, they’ll regard a season of consolidation and a 12th placed finish as a reasonable return. With new signing Bjorn Lindemann, they are guaranteed goals from midfield. Lee Tuck has shown in the first division that he knows where the back of the net is. The Englishman now has to replicate that in the top flight after a disappointing six months at Air Force in 2014. There was talk of Nicola Anelka and then Frank Ohandza joining the Swatcats. Instead they ended up with Ghanaian Dominic Adiyiah. His claim to fame is having his goal-bound header saved on the line by Luis Suarez in the dying minutes of extra time during the 2010 World Cup quarter final in South Africa. Key Player: Bjorn Lindemann Last Season: 1st (Division 1) Navy In 2011 when Navy were relegated from the TPL, a lot of Thai football fans thought they’d gradually slip through the first division into the regional league and we’d never hear of them again. Against the odds though, Navy have returned to the top table after they pipped Bangkok FC to the third promotion spot. Their squad still has a first division look to it although they have added plenty of height with Georgie Welcome (1.92m) from BEC Tero and Australian defender Michael Cvetkovski (1.90m). Angello Machuca has the ability to make the step up from the lower leagues but his questionable temperament could be his downfall. Realistically, survival should be their goal. Key Player: Georgie Welcome Last Season: 3rd (Division 1) Osotspa This year they’ll play at the Thephasadin Stadium, which is more suitable than them playing at a sparsely filled Rajamangala. The club no longer has any ties with the Saraburi province and they are back to their roots in Bangkok. As a result, support has dwindled and it seems it’s only a matter of time until the club succumbs to a similar fate that TTM have encountered in the past couple of years. Their squad still has reasonable depth to it but many of the better players have been slipping out the exit door. Highly rated Chananan Pombuppha and Narong Jansawek have been allowed to leave while the only overseas player left from last season is Anthony Komenan. Stefano Cugarra Teco is still holding the reins but I get the feeling he could be ousted if results don’t go his way in the early weeks. Key Player: Apipoo Suntornpanavech Last Season: 11th Port As a new season beckons, the Khlong Toei club has had another change of name and a clean sweep of the majority of the playing staff. Most fans don’t know what to expect this coming season but the appointment of Somchai Chuayboonchum indicates the club owners are aiming for survival. On the playing front last year, the season was littered with peaks and troughs. Off the field, the club were summoned by FIFA for not paying a former player’s wages while crowd trouble at Muang Thong saw the club deducted nine points and almost relegated as a consequence. This former problem has rumbled on through the close season and was only resolved a few days ago. The return of fan favourite Diarra Ali was a welcome boast for the Klong Toei Army as was Hironori Saruta’s decision to sign on for another season. Gorka Unda has impressed in pre-season friendlies and if Brent McGrath can get up to match fitness, then Port should be able to stay clear of affairs at the wrong end of the table. Key Player: Gorka Unda Last Season: 13th Ratchaburi The Dragons claimed and impressive fourth placed finish last year and the TPL’s top scorer, Heberty, netted 26 times. There were many interested suitors for the Brazilian but he’s elected to stay at Ratchaburi. He’ll be joined upfront by fellow country man Bruno Lopes and if recent signing from Bangkok Glass Flavien Michelini can find some consistency, then they will be an attacking force to be reckoned with. Former Barcelona youth coach Alex Gomez was going to take over from Ricardo Rodriquez after he left to join Bangkok Glass. However, that task is now in the hands of Martin Freeman lookalike Josep Ferre after health problems caused Gomez to leave his position. Their squad appears too slimline to achieve another top 4 finish, but the top half is certainly attainable. Key Player: Heberty Last Season: 4th Saraburi Saraburi begin their first season in the TPL after finishing runners-up in Division 1 in 2014. The club now hold all the attention in the town after Osotspa returned to Bangkok when the floodlights at the provincial stadium were deemed unfit to host TPL football in 2014. That problem has now been resolved so Saraburi won’t have to relocate. The TPL newbies have made some astute signings with plenty of TPL experience arriving in the form of Douglas Gardozzo, Bireme Diouf and Guy Hubert. Winger Bernard Henri has taken many plaudits in the lower leagues and this is the time for him to shine at the top level. Finishing in lower mid-table would be a decent return in their TPL maiden season. Key Player: Bernard Henri Last Season: 2nd (Division 1) Sisaket It was a welcome return to action for Sisaket after they spent 2013 in the wilderness while a courtroom battle was settled. A team had to be virtually assembled from scratch for 2014 and their target of survival was gleefully achieved. This off season has seen another revamp of the squad with only a handful of players remaining. Despite the signings of a couple of experienced Bulgarians, the new players arriving don’t look any better than the ones that have departed so another campaign of fighting relegation looms. The fans of Sisaket have made their presence felt throughout the country and they are one of the most welcome set of fans anywhere. Their passionate support will be vital to their survival. Key Player: Lyuben Nikolov Last Season: 12th Suphanburi If Suphanburi overachieved in 2013, then it’s fair to say they underachieved in 2014. With one of the highest wage bills in the TPL, finishing 20 points adrift of winners Buriram would not have impressed their president. The appointment of Velizar Popov never worked out and he has been replaced by Sergio Faras as head coach. The Brazilian has won an impressive list of honours with the most notable being the AFC Champions League with Pohang Steelers in 2009. Suphanburi’s season will depend on how quickly he settles into the Thai game. On the playing front, they’ve brought in Carmelo Gonzalez and Prathum Chuthong from Buriram while the highly rated Marcio Rosario remains as does the lesser rated Sergio van Dijk. With these new recruits, Suphanburi will be striving to break into the top 3. Key Player: Carmelo Gonzalez Last Season: 6th TOT The Grim Reaper continues to linger around the rickety old away end at the TOT stadium waiting to take the soul of this football club into the afterlife. The last couple of seasons have seen TOT get off to a flying start only for them to severely plummet mid-season before scraping a couple of late season victories to survive. Long term foreigners Lee Jun Ki and Takahiro Kawamura have extended their contracts and keeping this pair fit is TOT’s best route to survival. Bas Savage is still there and the impish Juninho has returned for a second spell in Lak Si. The lack of accomplished goalscorer means TOT will need to defend well and eek out several narrow wins to stay up. Key Player: Takahiro Kawamura Last Season: 15th
Kitchee were very poor. I was expecting a lot more from them. It looks like we're on track to repeat last season's AFC CL exploits: win easily at home and then get hammered away against much tougher opposition.
And 52 hours later, we are still top of the TPL. In all honesty, it's been a poor start to the TPL. There's been very little quality on the pitch and not much to get excited about. Hopefully things will improve once the season gets into full swing.
To be fair, good start from my lot last night. The goal might have been offside (for 'might have been', read 'yeah, okay, it was'), but we certainly deserved the points. The Korat 'keeper made a few excellent saves and Dangda had another cleared off the line. And 27,983 in Nakhon Ratchasima last night. My only concern there is that I know how fast Thai football fans disappear after a few winless games. Even Buriram's crowds plummeted to 12,000-or-so after last season's iffy start and they're far more established. It's worth keeping an eye on how many show up for a match against lesser opposition when Korat settle into midtable. As for the Champions League, yes, obviously both of our teams will get stuffed. I know I say this every year, but what precisely is the justification for it being a one-legged affair? Does the AFC even bother denying that it is to make sure the big nations go through? Or do they just roll out the 'travel costs' nonsense? How can it be more difficult to get through a qualifying round than the first round proper?!
If we can't get through a one-off playoff round, how could we survive 180 minutes against a major East Asian team? At least with the one-legged format we could shamelessly park the bus and pray we hold out until penalties. We just have to take this as an incentive to continue developing our domestic clubs until we have more than just Buriram as the only club able to compete well with the best from China/Japan/Korea. Still, for the time being it would be nice for Chonburi/BG to at least be able to host ACL teams for the fans' sake, even if we know we'll get stomped.
Chonburi and BG both went out tonight. Beijing Guoan 3-0 Bangkok Glass Kashiwa Reysol 3-2 (AET) Chonburi Chonburi was just a few minutes away from pushing Reysol to penalties. Great effort, and I think it shows that Chonburi is "getting there" as far as measuring up with top ACL teams. But Chonburi were on their heels for most of the game, especially after they tied it up 2-2. After that, Reysol must've had at least 80% of the possession. Valiant defending kept Chonburi alive until the very end. BG never looked threatening in Beijing. They fared slightly better than Chonburi getting thrashed 4-0 last year at the same stage in the tournament in the same venue, but it wasn't close to enough. Let's see if BG can pick themselves up and have a successful domestic season like Chonburi was able to afterwards.
Technically and tactically we were second best but we put up strong resistance. And to come back twice after going behind, showed a lot of character. If we can take this kind of attitude into domestic matches, we should have a decent season. Here's hoping. Kashiwa Reysol 3-2 Chonburi (aete): Match report http://www.clubwebsite.co.uk/chonburifc/113109/Matches/report/5813055
Disappointing thing is, how to get technically and tactically better when nothing else is on offer...no longer a drop into the AFC Cup where the knockout rounds really test you. Likely to be in same position again next year, or even if winning the league for a direct spot, it will just be as hard being thrown into 6 big matches. Hopefully AFC will see that CFC ran Kashiwa close. Over two legs they might have done it. But AFC will look at Seoul - Hanoi match that ended 7:0 and continue this playoff format. Playoffs aren't bad, but the current format needs amending.
if TPL continue progress and increase level of the league, thai will get their 2 slots automatically to ACL. but it takes time. However, still lot of gap and difference level to play in ACL . AFC Cup better for Asean clubs
I totally agree with the last two posts. Realistically we have more chance of progressing in the AFC Cup (we got to the semi finals a couple of years ago) and it would also help us improve. Buriram Utd are currently the only Thai club who are equipped to play at CL level, and even they struggle.
Nice ACL win for Buriram over Seongnam hope they can keep up the good form on the road too this year.
Excellent win for Buriram in Guangzhou tonight. Gilberto Macena's bicycle kick deflected in for a 90' winner. Guangzhou R&F isn't the strongest Chinese club, they aren't even the strongest club in their own city, but they were coming off back-to-back impressive road wins in Australia and Japan. Buriram leads the group with 6 points!
They were last years 3rd strongest!! That's not bad, and they even beat the strongest in the strongest own back yard! Buriram didn't play no mugs
Definitely a great win. I know Buriram aspires for higher than this (Newin said ACL champs in 5 years...) and I really hope they can keep reaching higher than this. The biggest test will come in the knock-out stage, if Buriram can make it there. With this group it is clearly doable. Seongnam should be the weakest of the K League teams, R&F got raided in the off-season by Shanghai SIPG, and the whole J League has been down in recent years and especially this year.
J.League only started today!! Truth is, Korea, Japan, China leagues pay much more and are much more competitive than Thai/ASEAN leagues. Buriram are playing a level above themselves. What they will do is make the AFC give Thailand more group allocation and boy, the other Thai clubs will be grateful as they simply can't compete on this level.
I m I meant in ACL. J League has lost 6 matches already. I think we're all eagerly awaiting a second Thai club to step up and join Buriram's level. Chonburi is halfway there. Muangthong has sort of fallen off. It would be nice to see a legitimate title race like we had last year happen every year.
Believe me, we (Chonburi) are a long way off at the moment. We just don't have the spending power or resources to compete with some of the other Thai clubs. I think you need to look at Suphanburi for the next serious contenders to Buriram Utd and Muang Thong Utd.
Agreed, and Bangkok Utd has deep pockets too. They and Suphanburi might be able to join Buriram down the line sometime, but it probably won't be this year.
Woah nelly! Fallen off? You're basing that off finishing third (on the pitch, anyhow) last season? Seems a trifle harsh. I thought it was kinda obvious Suphanburi were stepping up their game when they snapped up Chappuis permanently and Carmelo. I still have them down to be battling it out with Chonburi for third, though.
I remember when MTU was champions 3 years out of 4 and finished the year without a loss. I don't think finishing a rather distant third is the goal of their organization. Like every other club, I don't see them seriously threatening Buriram this year, but having Teerasil back should help. And here's hoping Suphanburi can make that next step.
Oh, I get that that isn't the goal. But I don't think one bad season counts as having fallen off when it comes to competing with Buriram. It's worth saying that had we maintained 2013's already fairly mediocre PPG tally in 2014, we'd have been champions. It's just rather unfortunate that when Buriram had a bad season, we had an even worse one. Teerasil has been surprisingly bad so far. I guess he can be given a little leeway for having to readjust, but four goals from the team in five games is a concern. The last two home fixtures were a textbook example of struggling to put away about a billion chances. Luckily, not very many will be put past Aoyama, Dong and Kawin at the back. We also look more composed in midfield. We just need to fill-up that last import slot with an attacker in the summer. It's a shame we let Milan Bubalo go to our li'l sis Pattaya while we were dreaming of picking up Jermaine Pennant. I'm predicting we just squeeze into second place, a point or two ahead of Suphanburi; themselves only a few points ahead of Chonburi. I have it down to finish thusly: 1. Buriram ------------------------- 2. Muangthong 3. Suphanburi ------------------------- 4. Chonburi 5. Ratchaburi 6. Tero 7. Army 8. Bangkok Glass 9. Chiang Rai 10. Sisaket 11. Bangkok United 12. Chainat 13. Osotspa 14. Port 15. Navy ------------------------- 16. Korat 17. TOT 18. Saraburi I do hope we don't lose Korat, but they do seem to be a basket-case. Twitter outbursts from players and just struggling past TOT doesn't bode well. I'm calling it for Buriram by around five points with a week to go. They're a little better than the rest, but certainly not to the extent that is made out sometimes. Navy to travel to Port by bus over boat to be the season's biggest disappointment.