Asean campaign finally ignites Thai fans' passion

Ticket touts enjoyed brisk business from a sharp spike in demand, with local fans clamouring to watch Thailand's bid to reclaim the title in the AFF Suzuki Cup yesterday.

Thailand's campaign in the biennial Asean football tournament initially struggled to ignite fans' passion, with the Thai team's three group matches all played in almost deserted Rajamangala Stadium.

But the Thais' strong run to the semi-final, which saw them become the only team with a perfect group-stage record, triggered a dramatic upsurge in demand for the home leg against defending champions Malaysia at the Supachalasai Stadium last night.

The slight advantage over the Malaysians gained with a 1-1 draw in the first leg on Sunday further stoked local fans' interest, with the final batch of tickets sold out within 41 minutes of going on sales at Thai FA headquarters on Wednesday.

Scalped tickets were reportedly being sold at three times' face value yesterday.

Meanwhile, Singapore coach Radojko Avramovic praised the character and determination of his players on Wednesday after they battled their way through to the AFF Suzuki Cup final with a narrow 1-0 victory over the Philippines at the Jalan Besar Stadium.

The Lions did not enjoy the best of build-ups to this year's tournament and lost to the Azkals in a pair of warm-up friendlies in September and November.

But the three-time champions have risen to the occasion since they kicked off their tournament with a 3-0 win over defending champions Malaysia, and they reached the final for a fourth time thanks to Khairul Amri's 19th minute strike in front of a full house of 7,500 at Jalan Besar.

Avramovic, who was in charge of the Lions for two of their triumphs in 2004 and 2007, is looking forward to an exciting final, no matter which team his side faces.

"I think that it is absolutely great that our team is in the final and very nice if we can win but Malaysia and Thailand are very good teams and it will be hard," he said, hours ahead of the decisive semi-final second leg between Malaysia and Thailand. "However, we are also a good team so the final should be good."

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Article source: http://www.thethailandlinks.com/2012/12/14/asean-campaign-finally-ignites-thai-fans-passion/