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AFC U23 Championship

Nishino hails new aggressive Thai approach

10:29 SAST 2020/01/10
Coach Akira Nishino | U23 Thailand vs U23 Bahrain | AFC U23 Championship 2020 | Group Stage
Thailand thumped Bahrain 5-0 in their opening Group A fixture of the AFC U23 Championship and Akira Nishino puts it down to a more front foot manner.

There was a lot of pressure on Nishino's shoulders going into the tournament that Thailand is hosting, not least because of a less than fruitful outing in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games but a huge chunk of that pressure was taken away following an impressive win over Bahrain on Wednesday.

The Japanese led his team to a resounding 5-0 win over the hapless Bahrain through goals from Suphanat Mueanta (2), Supachok Sarachat and Jaroensak Wonggorn (2) puts them in a commanding lead on top of Group A. Nishion later explained just how his side managed to romped to an oustanding first match.

“As the host country, there was a lot expected of us in the match against Bahrain so from the very start of the game we wanted to be aggressive in our approach. From the first goal onwards the players were hungry and eager to claim the win. Before the match, I believed that if we adopted a negative approach the game would go that way as well, so I told my players to be on the front foot.

"I have been telling my players to be aggressive and they did just that on the pitch against Bahrain. The improvement you can see in the players since the SEA Games is down to how they have been managed and in tonight’s game I feel they were energetic and performed well," said Nishino after the match.

In the group's other match, Iraq and Australia played out to 1-1 draw. Thailand will next play Australia at the Rajamangala Stadium on January 11 with Iraq facing Bahrain at the same venue in an earlier fixture.


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