Manchester City suffered an embarrassing 3-1
friendly defeat to Thailand Premier All-Stars at the Rajamangala
Stadium in Bangkok on Saturday.
Ecuador striker Felipe Caicedo struck his first goal for
the Blues but the All-Stars responded with two goals in eight
minutes at the end of the first half of what could prove to be the
penultimate match in Sven-Goran Eriksson's spell as
manager.
The hosts added a third midway through the second period in an
inept performance by City which is sure to have further dismayed
owner Thaksin Shinawatra.
Former Thai prime minister Thaksin is conducting a review which
has resulted in speculation over the future of the former England
boss, whose first season as a Premier League manager resulted in a
ninth-placed finish.
However, City were on Friday awarded a UEFA Cup place next
season after qualifying through the fair play table.
That European place could yet earn Eriksson a reprieve and
enable him to retain much-coveted players like England defender
Micah Richards - one of a number of first-team regulars who have
not travelled on tour.
Thaksin opened a club store in the Thai capital on Friday and
reiterated his desire to make City a global brand but the public
failed to respond and the 65,000-capacity venue was sparsely
populated for the so-called 'Super Match' - the first game of the
two-match post-season promotional tour of Asia.
The Blues nearly paid the price for their nonchalance in the
energy-sapping heat when Sarayoot Chaikamdee breached the offside
trap before firing wide.
But City exposed the hosts' own frailties at the back to go
ahead after 22 minutes.
Martin Petrov's deep cross from the left was knocked down by
Darius Vassell to Caicedo, who was allowed to turn 10 yards out and
tuck the ball into the bottom corner.
The All-Stars levelled eight minutes before the interval.
FA Youth Cup-winning captain Ben Mee was caught out of position
in the centre of defence and Fabiano capitalised, latching onto a
through-ball from Tawan Sripan to loft the ball over the advancing
Kasper Schmeichel.
Mee's torrid first half was complete when he slipped one minute
from the break to allow Tawan to coolly round Schmeichel and put
the All-Stars ahead.
Caicedo headed against the crossbar from Kieran Trippier's
right-wing cross before City's three Thai players - Suree Sukka,
Teerasil Dangda and Kiatprawut Saiwaew - were introduced for their
debuts with 26 minutes remaining.
Kiatprawut was out-jumped by Tana Chanabut nine minutes later as
the All-Stars claimed a third.
Teerasil thought he had made amends for his compatriot's blunder
but his header was ruled out for a foul and shortly afterwards he
blazed over when clean through.
