The TPL
All-stars will play against Chelsea FC for the Coke Super Cup on Sunday, 24th July. The match will kick off at 5.45 pm at the Hua Mark Stadium in Ramkhamhaeng. Anyone who has been to one of these exhibition matches, will know it’s
nothing more than a half-arsed kick about.
The Thai
media generally get quite excited about these glamour matches and there will be
plenty of hype in the build up for the game next week. The match gives an ideal
opportunity for self-important Thais to have their photo taken with uninterested
Chelsea stars. The majority of the Chelsea players will see this trip as an
inconvenience. Gone are the days when British teams could use these foreign
trips as an excuse for a piss-up. The EPL stars will most likely be in and out
of the country as quickly as possible.
If you are
interested in going to watch this game, you will be shaken down from anything
between 500-3000 baht for a ticket. I know the opposition are from the English
Premier League, but is it necessary to charge EPL prices?
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| Seating plan |
As usual
there will be plenty of corporate freebies handed out to the
business community while the average Thai football punter will have to be
content with sitting at home and watching the game on TV.
As you can probably tell by my tone, I won’t be going to the game. If you do go, I hope
you enjoy it.
The squad list for the TPL All-stars from thaipremierleague.com is listed below. Obviously, there are no players involved from the Thai national team as they will have played Palestine 24 hours earlier.
Goalkeeper:
Wicharn (Pattaya)
Pattarakorn (Police)
Defence:
Daiki Higuchi (Chonburi)
Anderson Dos Santos (PEA)
Florent Obama (PEA)
Pratum (Osotspa)
Jetsada (Air Force)
Midfield:
Kazuto Kushida (Chonburi)
Dagno Siaka (Muangthong)
Therdsak (Chonburi)
Sarawut (Chonburi)
Attack:
Frank Acheampong (PEA)
Franck Ohandza (PEA)
Pipob (Chonburi)
Wuttichai (Sisaket)
Leandro Dos Santos (Army)
Good stuff. Your preview strikes just the right tone. But you forgot to mention that they'll have a kick around with some school kids for an hour and talk it up as a 'legacy'.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame that the cheapest ticket is 500 baht as there are some genuine Thai fans who would like to see Chelsea play, even if it is only a friendly.
ReplyDeleteI went to watch similar games against Newcastle and Real Madrid a few years ago. Those games were truly awful to watch. I've seen more competative games on Thai Port matchdays between the kids at the back of the PAT Stadium.
It'll be interesting to see if the five Chelsea first-teamers featured in the promo posters all play. One of the more shameful episodes involving a touring side occurred two years ago when posters all around Bangkok featured Steven Gerrard with the caption "I've got my ticket. Have you got yours?"
ReplyDeleteGerrard didn't appear.
I've been to a fair number of these over the years and have enjoyed them. The Arsenal game in 1999 was particularly entertaining. However, I won't be bothering with this one.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that you've enjoyed some of these games over the years SRS. The Arsenal team of 99 containing a younger Henry, Bergkamp and Overmars were exciting to watch.
ReplyDeleteI certainly wouldn't label this current Chelsea side as "exciting" though. I wonder if Torres will ever rediscover his Liverpool form of a few years ago.