Thai football team arrive in Hanoi seeking SEA Games gold

Coach Polking at Noi Bai International Airport on May 4, 2022. After Thailand were crowned champion at AFF Cup 2020, the football championship of nations affiliated to ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asians) Football Federation, Polking was tasked with leading Thailand to earn gold at the 31st edition of Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games), a biennial regional multi-sport event to be held in Hanoi this month.
Vietnam won the gold medal at the previous edition after beating Indonesia in the final.

Football at SEA Games 31 features 10 teams and is scheduled to kick off on May 6, 2022, with most players aged under 23 and with only three over the stipulated age are allowed in each team. Goalkeeper Kawin Thamsatchanan is one of Thailand’s three players over 23.

Midfielder Benjamin Davis. He is now playing for Oxford United Football Club. Besides Davis, Thailand has two other members playing in Europe, Jonathan Khemdee and Chayapipat Suphanphat.

Midfielder Worachit, 25, is considered one of Thailand’s outstanding players. He is now playing for BG Pathum United, a professional Thai football club based in Pathum Thani Province, and is managed by BG Sports Company Limited, a subsidiary of Bangkok Glass Public Company Limited.

Only 16 players and 11 coaching staff touched down in Vietnam. The remaining four players are expected to arrive Thursday and Friday.

After arriving in Hanoi, the Thai team moved to Nam Dinh Province, one and a half hours south of Hanoi, where group B matches will be held.

Thailand will play against Malaysia on Saturday.