Despite Thailand’s defeat last night on aggregate in the 2012 AFF Suzuki Cup, Winfried Schafer, coach for the Thai War Elephants, remains optimistic about the possibilities for developing Thailand’s national team.
“The AFF Suzuki Cup was positive for Thailand,” said Schafer in a post-match interview. “We can build a good national team from here.
“We have to look to the future and I am confident Thailand can go up to a different level. We cannot stop here.”
Schafer said that in the future he would like to see the Thai team gain confidence in its performance abroad and develop its stable of younger, up-and-coming players.
“To go to the level of Japan and South Korea, the youth is very important,” he said.
“I have told people we have to do more work with the youth and be better organized.
“Football is the number one sport in Thailand. I saw in Malaysia (in the first leg of the AFF Suzuki Cup semi-final) there were 90,000 fans in the stadium. We have to do the same, step by step.”
Next on the calendar for both Schafer and the Thai national team is the task of qualifying for the AFC Asian Cup 2015 by playing against such teams as Kuwait, Lebanon and Iran.
