Thai surprise package Osotspa M-150
are adopting a humble posture ahead of their Tuesday evening clash
with Group F opponents Tampines Rovers, despite an emphatic start
to their maiden AFC Cup campaign.
The FAT Premier League 2006 runners-up had registered a 4-0 home
win over Malaysian aristocrats Pahang two weeks ago, a standout
result which sent them to the top of the group.
Having achieved such a positive start, the Bangkok-based side will
now begin their road campaign with a visit to Tampines Stadium,
where they meet former Thailand international Vorawan Chitavanichs
side.
And the opportunity to face one of the competitions more seasoned
sides has prompted Osotspa coach Arjharn Songngamsap to offer
effusive praise of his opponents in typical mind-games style at the
pre-match press conference on Monday.
Tampines is a good team full of players with a lot of experience
and ability, said Arjharn, one-time assistant to former Thailand
coach Peter Withe.
In addition, Vorawan is a good coach with good tactical awareness.
He will be a difficult opponent for me.
Our team is coming here mostly for experience, and I can only hope
that the players can gain more experience in international-standard
matches like this.
The club has been in the top three in Thailand for the last three
years, but the players lack international experience. I hope to use
this tournament to help them grow more.
Osotspa are not total strangers to continental competitions, having
participated in the 2002/03 edition of the Asian Champions League,
where they reached the group stage.
Most of the players in todays squad had no active role in that
campaign, however, including 33-year-old Thawatchai
Damrong-Ongtrakul, who had previously played in the S.League for
Sembawang Rangers and Tanjong Pagar United.
Having joined the club only recently after a six-month stint in
Vietnam, Thawatchai now plays the role of old head guiding
Osotspas young legs on the field.
Arjharn is turning to the veterans leadership skills to guide an
all-Thai outfit missing top striker Kittisak Jaihan, but still able
to pose a real threat, as demonstrated against Pahang.
Our result against Pahang was very lucky we scored a lucky goal
in the first half and had a very good second half, claimed the
Osotspa coach self-depreciatingly.
But most of our players are young and inexperienced. Our clubs
main goal is to develop young players and support the countrys
plan to grow more talents.
The youngsters may be inexperienced, but they have good fitness
and work well as a team, added Thawatchai.
I think we can expect this match to be a close fight. Kittisak is
missing with a hamstring injury, but all our players can score,
even our goalkeeper.
The comment was clearly a half-humorous reference to England
goalkeeper Paul Robinsons goal for Tottenham Hotspur over the
weekend, and drew a laugh from Tampines custodian Rezal Hassan as
well as several others at the press conference.
Stags team manager Syed Faruk, however, did not see the funny side
to the threat posed by the Thai outfit, and warned that teams who
take them lightly do so at their peril.
To beat Pahang is never an easy feat, and they won 4-0, so they
must be good, he noted.
They are so confident of their own homegrown players that they
dont even have any foreigners. We have to be careful of the threat
they can pose.
They speak of our experience, but experience is always something
on paper, not automatically translated onto the field. On the day,
only the on-field performance counts.
Whatever we have achieved counts for nothing when we go out to
play a new game. Osotspa have already achieved more in their first
game than we did in ours, so they have to be respected.
Respected they ought to be, but Faruk made it just as clear that
Osotspa must not be feared if the Stags are to get their bid to
qualify for the knockout stage back on track.
Already Tampines have started the campaign on a less-than-perfect
footing, mustering only a goalless draw against Mohun Bagan of
India in their opening game in Kolkata.
Their bid to reclaim the S.League title, lost to SAFFC last year
after coming out tops for two straight seasons, also started
awkwardly with a defeat to Woodlands Wellington.
Victory over the Young Lions last Saturday, however, has put the
players in more positive mood. It is a result that Faruk hopes will
inspire similar success in the AFC Cup after missing their
objective two weeks back.
When we went to India, we were expecting to get the three points,
he revealed.
We knew that we could expect problems in this game against
Osotspa, so we wanted to get three points in our hands first. In
the end, we were lucky we didnt lose all three points, but we were
still disappointed not to win over there.
Osotspa already have three points from their last win, so they
dont need the three points as badly as we do. Were at home for
this match as well, so that makes it even more important for us to
collect points in front of our fans.
Fortunately, the season is still young and the players legs are
still fresh. We should be able to recover enough from our game on
Saturday to go through this one.