After the unconvincing performance at the 30th SEA Games, coach Akira Nishino had no other way to focus on recruiting U.23 Thailand for the stars he had eliminated beforehand to prepare for the goal of winning tickets to the 2020 Olympic Games at U.23 Asian Cup next year at home.
The Thai Football Federation (FAT) on December 23 announced the list of 33 players summoned by coach Nishino for the U.23 team to prepare for the U.23 Asian Cup taking place from 8 - 26.1.2020. In this tournament, U.23 Thailand is in Group A with heavy rivals Iraq, Australia and Bahrain.
In the list was summoned, notably named left-back Kevin Deeromram of Port FC. The Swede was previously kicked off by coach Nishino after pretending to be injured when he was called up to recruit U.22 to prepare for the SEA Games 30. However, in the defense of U.23 Thailand. Revealing many weaknesses in the recent Southeast Asian football festival, the Japanese strategist had to call back Kevin, who was quite experienced when he was crowned with Thailand in the SEA Games in 2017.
Besides the Swedish defender, coach Nishino summoned England midfielder Ben Davis, who is currently playing for Fulham. The 19-year-old star was rated by the Thai press as the best alternative to the young talent Ekanit Panya, who underwent knee surgery. Earlier, Davis expressed that he wanted to play for Thailand’s U.23 squad but could not attend the SEA Games because the tournament was not in the international competition system.
In this list, U.23 Thailand still has the Supachok Sarachat, Suphanat Mueanta and Anon Amornlertsak pillars, the best players at the SEA Games. In addition, Nishino coach also called for the additional striker currently playing for U.23 FC Tokyo (Japan) as Nattawut Suksum.
As planned, 33 Thai U.23 players will focus on November 26 for training. Nishino coach is expected to close the list of 23 players officially at the time of 10 days before the U23 Asian Cup finals in 2020. However, the latest move shows that coach Nishino is making every effort to achieve the challenging goal of being in the top 3 tournaments to get tickets to the Olympic Games next year.
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