December 12, 2004

While Vietnam appeared to have thrown in the towel about their chances of making it to the semi-final with their Brazilian coach Tavares quitting, Laos coach Bounlap Khenkitisack is promising that his side will go all out for the win when they take on Singapore & make it to the semi-final.

The 38-year-old said the match is not only important for Singapore or Vietnam it is important for Laos as they want to win this match  for they came to this tournament wanting to qualify for the semi-finals & they will try hard to win their last two games.

This is boasted by a 2-1 victory over Cambodia which put Khenkitisack’s side third in the table on 3 points

While mathematically possible for Laos to make the final four for the first time in Tiger Cup history, the form book suggests that they are unlikely to finish higher than fourth having won just two of their 18 matches since the tournament began in 1996.

Khenkitisack, however, is refusing to concede that they are a distant third behind Singapore & Vietnam in the fight on who ends up finishing second place behind Indonesia.

He said in every game they never think about losing or drawing as they think only about winning.

Also he derailed Singapore attack saying the Republic strikers are not so strong as after all they have played 2 games & only scored once & Laos is a strong team too. That is why nobody can say who is the better team & it is only known during the game.

However he never took in the consideration the 2 matches Singapore played were against the Vietnam & Indonesia & it is a wonder if Laos can even scored against them & also we have a defence that is vast superior to whatever they have as shown in their opener against Indonesia when their defence just crumbled with every attack.

In his parting words he gave the example of the 1997 SEA Games in Jakarta which Laos beat Malaysia 1-0 when people were saying Malaysia were the better team as backing that Laos will achieved the impossible against Singapore