The national team received their first defeat in the double qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup and the 2023 Asian Cup, after losing 2-1 to Thailand yesterday, at Tamasat Stadium in the Thai capital Bangkok, in the fourth round, taking the "war elephants" to the top of the group with seven Points, equal to the same score with Vietnam, who won 3-1 away to Indonesia against Indonesia, while the "white" stood at six points and fell to third place.
Five shocks contributed to Al-Abyad's loss to the top of Group G after Marvik made adjustments to the squad compared to the first two qualifying matches, while Khalid Issa and the defenders made disastrous mistakes that contributed to the goal of the national team two goals, and the waste of the home many opportunities achieved, The attacking players also performed poorly, and the players were affected by the pitch and heavy rain before the match began.
Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk has made two changes in the squad for the first two qualifying games against Malaysia and Indonesia, where he made his first appearance for Omar Abdulrahman, after 17 minutes against Malaysia and 31 minutes against Indonesia. The Dutch coach relied on Amouri in the squad for Jassem Yaacoub, while Hassan Saleh took over from Walid Abbas, but Al Abyad presented their weakest level since the start of the qualifiers.
The national team showed less than average performance in the first half, which almost ended with the home side with at least three goals, as "war elephants" dominated the midfield since the beginning of the game, despite the absence of danger against the goal of Khaled Issa, except for a shot by Terracel Dangda Out of goal (5), a shot from Ikannit Bunia raised the bar (21), but the crosses posed great danger, due to the lack of control by the defense line duo Mohammed Alatas and Khalifa Al Hammadi.
On the other hand, "White" performance disastrous for 15 minutes, after the Thailand team scored the first goal in the 26th minute from a cross by Ikannit Bunia and Terracel Dangda headed in the goal to score the first goal, while the post was blocked by the opportunity to add the second goal, after Sarshat hit a powerful ball I touched the feet of Mohammed Al-Attas and bounced from the post and dispersed the motive of "White".
Defensive and goalkeeper errors continued when Khaled Issa missed his own goal, but the ball passed in front of Manuel Behr, who was facing the goal without Issa (32), before the crossbar confronted the chance of a certain goal, after playing a direct Sheraton free kick, rose Her Terracel Dangda and played her head amid the absence of control of the national defense, but the bar saved Khaled Issa from entering the second goal (37).
For their part, the attackers of the national team did not threaten the goal of "war elephants" any ball, and the team did not get any chance, except, a shot by Omar Abdulrahman from a free kick directly over the bar (35), while Ali Mabkhout scored the first goal of a cross by Hassan Saleh In the second minute of overtime.
The second half did not change the situation, and continued errors of the national defense team, after the Thai team added the second goal of the first attack, when Ikkanit Bunia benefited from the lack of control of the defenders of "white", and hit an easy shot against Khaled Issa (50).
The Dutchman Burt Marvik, after the second goal for Thailand, first substitute Jassim Yacoub instead of Khalil Al-Hammadi, while Ahmed Berman was injured, and came to replace Tariq Ahmed, also participated Ahmed Khalil instead of Omar Abdulrahman, where the most prominent opportunity missed by Khalil in the 73rd minute after Jassem received a ball from Jacob, but the "brown deer" hit the ball next to the post.