Hometown Thailand crowd not a problem for Azkals says coach Weiss

Karl Decena, InterAKTV

BANGKOK, Thailand – Philippine national men’s football coach Hans Michael Weiss is unfazed by the huge crowd the Azkals will faze in their ASEAN Football Federation Suzuki Cup opening match against host Thailand at the Rajamangala Stadium here on Saturday.



The venue, which boasts of a 65,000 seating capacity, is expected to be jampacked by Thais who will be rooting for the War Elephants, the nickname of their national team. The stadium is a far cry from the Azkals’ home turf, the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium, which can currently sit 13,000 spectators.


Despite that, Weiss doesn’t see Thailand’s home advantage as a problem.

“I think there’s no reason to worry,” Weiss said after testing the pitch of the Rajamangala stadium during their light training. “We all have reasons to be positive.”



Weiss also believes that the hostile environment could work to their advantage as the Azkals are not used to playing in front of a large number of people.

“I think it is more interesting than to play in UMak (University of Makati) or a much different field with no spectators,” he said. “The players love to play in front of big crowds, so that is not something that we should be worried.”


The Azkals will start their campaign on Saturday evening against Thailand in the Suzuki Cup, where they look to surpass their historic semifinal run in the same tournament two years ago.

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