SEA Games: The Pitch Awaits

By Ahmad Nazrin Syahmi Mohamad Arif KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 12 (Bernama) – Who will be crowned football champions in the 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games? The pitch at the National Stadium awaits the two teams that make it to the final. The football competition starting Monday will see 11 countries vying for the “mother of all gold medals” of the Southeast Asian biennial meet. The competition also involves five countries in the women’s category. In the men’s category, hosts Malaysia have been drawn in the same group as Myanmar, Singapore, Brunei and Laos which is Group A. While Malaysia enjoy home advantage in KL2017, this factor is no guarantee of a gold medal as Malaysia lost 0-1 to Thailand in the 2001 Games, when Malaysia last hosted the Games. Myanmar, who were the finallists in the 2015 edition in Singapore under German coach Gerd Zeise, are expected to give Datuk Ong Kim Swee’s boys a tough fight at the group level. Meanwhile, Group B has been labelled as the “group of death” as defending champions Thailand are drawn with the 2013 Games’ finallists, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia and Timor Leste. Thailand who have won the SEA Games football gold medal for a total of 16 times and Vietnam, a qualifier for the finals of the 2018 Under-23 Asian Football Confederation Cup are top contenders for the gold medal. Indonesia who last won the football goal medal in 1991 in Manila are also deemed a potential side to join Thailand in the semi-finals. Like Malaysia, the War Elephants (Thailand) are determined to win all group matches to avoid meeting the hosts in the semi-finals. Malaysia and Thailand are also among the Southeast Asian countries to confirm their places in the 2018 AFC U-23 Cup finals in China next year. In the women’s category, Thailand and Vietnam are expected to dominate the round robin competition starting on Aug 16. The two teams had a fair share of the gold medal haul in this event since competition began in 1985 with Thailand winning five times and Vietnam, four. -- BERNAMA