Manolo Marquez shares disappointment after loss against Thailand

Indian football team head coach Manolo Marquez expressed his disappointment after they suffered a 2-0 defeat against Thailand in an International friendly on Wednesday. 

Benjamin Davis and Poramet Arjvilai scored at each end of the break to give a comprehensive win to the home team. 

The Blue Tigers showed glimpses of good attack against the War Elephants but the tourists lacked finishing in front of the goal.

The Spaniard admitted that they could capitalize on clear chances, and it led to their downfall in the end.

“The reality is that when you don’t score the clear chances we had, you usually lose the game. We started the first four-five minutes okay, but when Thailand scored the first goal, we were out for some minutes and when we entered the game again, I think we had very clear chances, one-on-one with the goalkeeper. Three or four, I don’t remember exactly but they were very clear,” Marquez said in the post-match press conference.

“And if you don’t score, Thailand have very good players and those who play in competition like Japan. The second goal was fantastic. It’s true that we lost the ball in a dangerous action to 2-0 on the flank, they recovered the ball and did a very good counterattack and they scored the goal. We tried everything but practically the game was over after the second goal.”

The gaffer admitted that Thailand players were physically stronger than them and they could not keep up with them.

“Physically, they (Thailand) are better than us. It’s difficult when you play against a team that is physically stronger than you. The pace was more for Thailand in this case,” he said.

“We can play better than today but usually Indian football misses the physical condition.. I want to do self-criticism but I don’t want to criticise the effort of my players. It was a very similar game in Vietnam and we equalised there because we scored the chance we had. (Against Thailand) we had more chances and more clearer. But if you don’t score, the other team is a good team and even they could’ve scored more goals also,” he added.

India will take on Hong Kong in the AFC Asian Cup qualifier on June 10.