Miguel leads the new generation of Thai futsal to open the fight with Brunei in the 2024 ASEAN Championship.
The movement of the Thai national futsal team, ranked 11th in the world, led by “Big Pom” Adisak Benjasiriwan, Vice President of the Football Association of Thailand and Chairman of the Development of Futsal and Beach Soccer for the Thai National Team, including “Big Tin” Suthin Buatum, Team Manager, Miguel Rodrigo, Head Coach, preparing to compete in the 2024 ASEAN Futsal Championship at Terminal Hall, Terminal 21 Shopping Mall, Nakhon Ratchasima Province, between 2-10 November. The Thai futsal team, the defending champion and 16-time ASEAN champion, is in Group A with Vietnam, Malaysia, Timor-Leste, and Brunei. Group B includes Indonesia, the former runner-up, Myanmar, Australia, and Cambodia.
The latest news on Friday, November 1st, was a press conference about the readiness for the competition. Miguel Rodrigo, head coach of the Thai national futsal team, revealed that thinking about the future after the Futsal World Cup, we want to build a new ยูฟ่าเบท team, and this team has a younger average age. It’s a team of new blood. Many are new to the national team, and some already have experience.
“I have little time to prepare for this group, but we want to create national experience for the players. In this group, there are both Vietnam and Malaysia, who are strong teams. It will not be an easy task for the Thai team. I respect all teams. We will combine different styles of play to reach the final round. Even though we are the strongest team in ASEAN, we still want to win this tournament.”
“On paper we may look better than Brunei, but on the pitch it will be different. We have to play our best form to show respect to Brunei and his new coach. But of course we are Thailand and we want to win this match.”
Rubio Guerra, the Brazilian head coach who has become the new coach of the Brunei national team, the first opponent of the Thai national team, said in a press conference that “The important goal in this tournament is learning. I want our players to learn more because we are building a new national team.”
“We know how difficult this group is because there are Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam, all of whom have world-class coaches. This tournament will be a good experience for our national team and we hope to learn as much as we can. We are improving our futsal. We want to give our players national experience. This tournament should give us a lot of benefits and I want the players to be focused.”
“Meeting Thailand in the first match, in my opinion it is a difficult task. We know how good Thailand is and how many times they have been to the Futsal World Cup. But I want to see the fighting spirit of the team. I want to see them make a difference and take another step forward. We will play with full spirit and no fear for sure.”
For the opening match of the Thai national futsal team, preparing to meet Brunei, Coach Miguel Rodrigo will hold on to the core players that will be arranged in the first set to show off in front of the fans first, including goalkeeper Charoenphong Prasatsat, defender and team captain Narongsak Wingwon, captain Athiphong Munplai, Thedsak Charoenphong, which are 4 players from Tha Kham Cold Storage, while the striker is Peerapat Kaewwilai from Bluewave Chonburi.
While Brunei, ranked 116th in the world and 9th in ASEAN, will debut a new coach, Rubio Guerra, a Brazilian coach who has worked with the national teams of Qatar, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates. This coach announced his readiness to lead the Brunei national futsal team to play with a new strategy and is ready to raise the level in this ASEAN stage.