Well, OK, Thailand might not have won but their 2-2 draw was enough for the Elephants to make it through their World Cup Qualifying second round tie against Palestine in the West Bank. Winnie Schaefer’s men went into the second leg with a slender 1-0 lead after the first leg in Buriram, but that lead was wiped out after just a couple of minutes as Murad Alyan put the hosts right back in contention. Credit to Thailand, though; they held their nerve in the bearpit-like atmosphere to equalize on 33 minutes through Datsakorn Thonglao.
Not only did it give them a 2-1 aggregate lead but it also meant they had a crucial away goal which left Palestine needing to score twice to make it through. The Palestinians fairly dominated the second half and did dramatically manage to pull a goal back in the 89th minute. However, as they went in search of the injury time winner that would see them through, it was Thailand who scored the next and decisive goal. It was the Muangthong midfielder Datsakorn who stepped up again converting a free kick deep into injury time to make the final score 2-2 on the night and see Thailand go through 3-2 on aggregate. All-in-all it ended up being an impressive result in very tricky circumstances. The result see the Thais progress to the third round which is a group stage. More details on who they will be up against in next week’s blog.

It’s Back! (well sort of)
(all matches 6pm unless stated otherwise)
The TPL slowly returns to life this weekend after a break of nearly two months. The second half of the season was originally scheduled to restart in the first weekend of July but was then postponed owing to the general election. TPL chief Dr Vichit then decided to extend the break to cover all of July in order to allow the national team maximum time to prepare for their World Cup Qualifier: an admirable gesture, but slightly overdoing it, surely?

So it is with relief that the top flight restarts but it is really limping back to life as just five matches take place. There’s only one match in the capital this weekend, and that you’re not allowed to watch! The match in question is Thai Port v Pattaya on Sunday. Fans are ‘officially’ banned from this match after crowd trouble in the reverse fixture between the two sides, but you may well be able to charm/sneak/tunnel/bribe your way in if previous behind-closed-doors matches are anything to go by (4pm, T-Sport). On Saturday, Army United are away at Sriracha. A match against one of the strugglers could be just what the soldiers need to get their season back on track (NBT 11). And TOT (officially a Bangkok club again now that they are back playing in Lak Si) are away at Khon Kaen on Sunday (4pm, True 69). This is exactly the kind of game that TOT need to take maximum points from if they want to beat the drop again. Elsewhere in the TPL, Sisaket host Samut Songkhram on Saturday (True 102), and the Sunday fixture list is completed by Chiang Rai v Siam Navy at the 700th Anniversary Stadium in Chiang Mai (NBT 11).

There’s a full fixture list in Division 1 but only one match in the capital on Saturday as Air Force United host RBAC in a derby of sorts (True 74). The really big match on Saturday is in Buriram where third-place Bangkok United visit top-of-the-table Buriram FC. The final BKK club in action on Saturday is JW Rangsit who are away at Chainat while Sunday sees an East/West derby as Bangkok FC of Thonburi host Minburi’s Thai Honda at the Bang Mod Stadium (4pm). Just barely qualifying as the greater Bangkok area, we have Rajpracha v Phuket at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom at 4pm on Sunday, and Samut Prakan Customs v Chiang Mai also at 4pm on Sunday at the Lad Krabang 54 Stadium.