Robson targets Thai triumph over Jordan
Reuters - Monday 04 January 2010, 09:46
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BANGKOK - Former Manchester United captain
Bryan Robson is staring at two years in the international
doldrums if his Thailand team fail to turn around their Asian
Cup qualifying campaign this week.
Robson has had just two competitive games since becoming
Thailand's coach in October and could be left with only minor
regional tournaments and one-off friendlies if his side fail to
beat Jordan in Bangkok on Wednesday.
The former England skipper says Thailand, heavy favourites
for Wednesday's game, are too good to miss out and believes his
players will prevail in a tight group that includes arch rivals
Singapore and three-times Asian champions Iran.
"It is a must-win game, but the pressure's not on us any
more than the other three teams," Robson told Reuters.
"It's exciting, but we really didn't want it to be this
exciting. We've slipped up, but the players know how important
this game is and they've been working really hard."
Iran lead Group E on seven points, trailed by Singapore
(6), Thailand (5) and Jordan (4). All teams have two games
remaining and the top two will reach the tournament in Qatar in
January next year.
Qualification for Qatar will be all the more important
after Thailand were embarrassingly dumped out in the group
stage of last month's Southeast Asian Games, a tournament of
huge importance to Thai fans who reacted angrily to the early
exit.
If Robson's team miss out on the Asian Cup finals, they
face a wait of nearly two years for their next big contest,
which will be Asian qualification for the 2014 World Cup in
Brazil.
Wednesday's match will be the biggest test so far for
Robson in his first international coaching post, a job he said
he was enjoying but sometimes found "a little frustrating".
If Thailand fail to beat Jordan, they may require an
unlikely victory in their final match against regional giants
Iran in March. However, Robson says his new team can beat the
Iranians, even at Tehran's notoriously hostile Azadi Stadium.
"For me, what I've seen of Iran there's no reason why we
shouldn't go there and get a good result," he said.
"The players know it's still there for them to qualify and
they're up for this challenge. They've done very well so far
and I'm quite impressed with them."