MVFC Blog

This is the third in our series of Asian Champions League previews. So far, we have covered the Melbourne Victory and Chunnam Dragons.

Location: Chonburi, Thailand
Stadium: Suphachalasai Stadium, 35 000 (switched there from Chonburi Municipality Stadium, due to the latter’s small size and lack of floodlights)
Coach: Annop Singtotong

It’s hard to find much about Chonburi FC. Other than a fairly useful Wikipedia article, there is really quite little to go on about the Thai champions.

Which makes them a difficult team to write a preview about. So without pretending to know much, here’s what we can glean about Chonburi FC:

Their rise to the top of Thai football has been rapid. 2007 was only their second year in the Thai Premier League. After finishing 8th the previous year, they emerged as clear champions at the end of 2007, at the top of the ladder with a 9 point lead.

In the world of Thai football, Chonburi FC are the team to beat at the moment.

But in the wider sphere of Asian football, how will they hold up? Thai teams have traditionally not fared well in the Asian Champions League. A few years ago, after seeing Thai and Vietnamese teams perform substantially below the competition par, the AFC decided to limit the number of representatives from both countries to just one.

The last time a Thai team did well in the Asian realm was in 1994 and 1995, when Thai Farmers Bank FC won the Asian Club Championship over 2 consecutive years). Since the Asian Club Championship was renamed the AFC Champions League in 2002-03, only one Thai team has made it past the group stage.

I agree wholeheartedly with Brenton’s comment that our Asian opponents should be “approached with caution”. Arrogance won’t win games, as we saw in the Asian Cup.

So I say this with some hesitation: I would be surprised if we don’t beat Chonburi FC. Aaron Healy, who recently had the chance to watch Chonburi in action, agree: he thinks our games with Chonburi will be “quite winnable“.

But they are something of a dark horse. Gary Cole says there are technically “good and very quick”, and they will be coming into the Asian Champions League as an underdog. So while I still think we will beat them, I also hope we don’t take a win for granted.