Asian Cup: After sacking coach, Thailand script Bahrain win
DUBAI: Changing the manager had an immediate benefit for Thailand as they won only the second of 22 matches at the Asian Cup on Thursday.
Chanathip Songkrasin scored the only goal as Thailand beat Bahrain 1-0. Thailand sacked coach Milovan Rajevac following Sunday’s 4-1 drubbing to India and appointed his assistant, Sirisak Yodyardthai, as interim coach. Sirisak made five changes to the team which lost to India, and Thailand, which conceded four goals in each of its past two matches, managed to keep only its second cleansheet in its last 14 Asian Cup games.
It was helped by some wayward finishing from Bahrain who managed only three shots on target out of 15 attempts.
Thailand grew in confidence as Bahrain failed to translate their dominance into goals, and Chanathip broke the deadlock in the 58th minute after Tristan Do’s cross was deflected into his path by Bahrain defender Ahmed Ali Juma.
REFEREE SLAMMED
AL AIN : Lebanon coach Miodrag Radulovic said his team were playing “against 12 or 13” as he slammed the referee in an extended rant after Asian Cup defeat by Qatar. Radulovic said Chinese referee Ma Ning had ruined Lebanon’s chances by ruling out a first-half goal which would have put them 1-0 up against the 2022 World Cup hosts.
Qatar eventually won the Group E game 2-0 after secondhalf goals from Bassam Al-Rawi and Almoez Ali, leaving Lebanon waiting for their first ever Asian Cup win. “It’s difficult to talk after such a game because I teach my team to play 11 against 11 players, but (this was) 11 against 12 or 13, meaning the referees,” fumed the Montenegrin.
“When you play... perfect, tactically disciplined, you score 1-0 and they steal our goal, it’s very difficult to continue after that,” he added.
LIVERPOOL FACE BIG CHALLENGE
LONDON: History is on the side of Premier League leaders Liverpool as they chase a first league title since 1990 but their fourpoint lead over Manchester City after 21 games is the smallest margin between the top two in over a century. The last 11 teams with the equivalent of 52 or more points at the same stage since 1905-06 went on to lift the title, but the strength of this year’s top four means Liverpool on 54 points face an especially daunting task.
Sports data company Gracenote have recalculated seasons before the English top flight moved from two to three points for a win in 1981 and say the data reveals that the current top four is the most dominant ever. Liverpool, City, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea are separated by 10 points, and are on course to break the record cumulative tally of 333 points set by the top four in each of the last two seasons.
Of the 11 teams that won the league after leading at this stage since 1905-06, when 20 teams competed for the first time, many had sizeable leads unlike Liverpool’s slender advantage this time round. City, for instance, held a 14-point advantage over Chelsea at the same stage last year and are the first top-flight team to reach the 50-point mark after 21 games and not lead the table.
JESUS EYES MORE GAME TIME AFTER CITY WIN
LONDON: Striker Gabriel Jesus is targeting more game time following a four-goal salvo in Manchester City’s 9-0 thrashing of Burton Albion in Wednesday’s League Cup semi-final. “Players like me want to play more to help the team and we went out to win,” the Brazil international said.
“I have never scored four before in my career, I’m so happy. We played well and with respect to Burton, that’s important.”
MADRID EARN COPA DEL REY WIN OVER LEGANES
MADRID: Real Madrid eased their recent troubles by securing a therapeutic 3-0 home win against Leganes in the first leg of their last-16 Copa del Rey tie on Wednesday.