Silent Lonesome Man

When Thailand lost 1-3 to the UAE and 0-4 to Iraq away in the latest 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification, it was seen as a dent. Thailand was the only country from Southeast Asia to be there, though, to be frank, if you count member from the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF), you may also think of Australia, the country where I have some connection over, due to my relatives studied in Down Under and some of my neighbours were students in here. But Australia and Thailand are totally two opposite polar. Australia has succeeded in establishing a name among Asia's mightiest, and a frequent World Cup participant since 2006, the year they joined the AFC. By contrast, Thailand has succeeded only in giving itself a supremacy in Southeast Asia - in fact, Thailand was, for a long time, the only Southeast Asian state to reach the final phase of World Cup qualifiers in Asia. Indonesia was the only World Cup participant there from Southeast Asia, though as a Dutch autonomous colony, it didn't p...

When the final whistle of the match between Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan blew in Mrsool Park, the entire Uzbek players collapsed to the field, coach Vadim Abramov quietly entered the conference room disillusioned. Uzbekistan suffered a heavy 0-3 loss to Saudi Arabia and finished second with 15 points. But North Korea's withdrawal ruined the campaign - FIFA and AFC both agreed that points against fifth-placed teams of the remaining groups would not be counted. All six points Uzbekistan gathered from Yemen vanished to the air, and it could only obtain 9 points. A win or a draw only with more than one goal could guarantee them to progress, instead, Uzbekistan missed out on the final phase for the first time ever. Not far away, in a country deepened by the economic crisis and political sectarian turmoils, the fans jumped into the street after hearing Uzbekistan defeated by Saudi Arabia. Yes, we talk about Lebanon, the smallest country in mainland Asia with a population of no more than f...