September 19, 2023

The upcoming ACL campaign somehow feels even bigger than last year’s. I am not sure what it is. Perhaps in an era where Covid-19 dominates the headlines, football takes a bit of a backseat? Or maybe it’s the largely-empty stadiums? Another factor could be that last year’s Champions League campaign was played in a centralised format, and all 4 teams of our group were in Buriram for about a month and played all their games back to back. There was no home crowd cheering our players on, or that of our opponents. Urawa Red Diamonds have to be commended for making their matches against us feel like home games with the strength of their away support – both in terms of numbers and loudness. I have told this story before to my friends, but what impressed me about them was not just that they were strong in numbers, and very loud. What impressed me most was that when I started chanting alone in the cavernous Thunder Castle (Buriram’s home stadium), they had the grace to allow me to chant out loud in support of my team for a few minutes. And I knew it was not coincidence, because whenever I stopped chanting, they would start a new chant. They could easily have used their hundreds of voices to drown me out, but they did not. I guess that’s the beauty of football, and an example of how fans can put their support of the team to one side, and respect fellow fans of their opponents. Even in the lead-up to this round of ACL games, I have experienced the warmth and generosity of fans online who have stepped up to help me with this article. Let’s dive straight into the preview. Our Opponents If you haven’t read the pre-preview of our tie against Bangkok United, please go and do so here. Huge shout-out again to Matt Jenkins for his contribution. Just a recap of what he said – You’ll meet a strong BUFC side. With our stalwart Brazilian centreback Everton captaining the side, and organising a back four that’s pretty much all Thai / or Thai-German, sitting in front of Pattiwat the Thai national 2nd goalkeeper. Midfield normally sets up as a 3 or 4, with strong Thai influence, who run and run, again 2 or 3 here in the national side. The front line is made up of Mahmoud Eid, a Palestinian forward who drops deep and plays across the front, Willen Mota, a Brazilian who plays more centrally, and Rungrath, another Thai who offers more width and can easily slip back into midfield. Matt Jenkins – Bangkok United fan This was how our opponents lined up in their last league game against Sukhothai United, and it is highly likely that they will go with the exact same players. I have done some checking and of the four league games played so far, these players (with the exception of no. 26 Suphan Thongsong) have started all four games, and are flying in the league right now. 3 wins and a draw, with several players looking very bright. The night was spent looking at these players in their first 4 fixtures, and my oh my, will we have a huge task on our hands. The summary of what I have seen is this. They have a multi-talented midfield that is very athletic, capable of defending, capable of arriving late into the box to score, capable of breaking at pace, and capable of making killer passes into their lethal front 3. Mahmoud Eid is gonna be hell to defend, because he is big, strong and fast. Rungrat is capable on both feet and loves taking on his man. Willen Mota is a constant threat as he flits around in the frontline, sometimes dropping deep to connect with the rest of his teammates. In the backline, Everton is a strong presence (unlike in the English Premier League, haha), while Nitipong at right back is a real menace in attack, because he bombs on down the right flank with purpose, and has a hell of a cross on him. I could go on and on about how good Bangkok United is, but let’s focus on Mahmoud Eid. Mahmoud Eid Mahmoud Eid is a Palestinian international who was born in Sweden. He is 30 years old now, and the biggest name on his CV is Kalmar FF, a Swedish top division team, where he played for about 5 years. His career prior to that was predominantly in the Swedish 2nd and 3rd division, where he scored a respectable amount of goals. Nothing crazy though. Last season at Bangkok United is where he really caught the eye – in the league he notched up 10 goals and 4 assists from 26 games, and he wasn’t even the main striker. The main attacking threat in the team was the excellent Heberty, who has since moved on to join JDT. This season, he has 3 goals and 3 assists from 4 games. His size makes it seem like he’d be a classic target man, but while his physique allows him to hold up the ball well and bully defenders in the air, his mobility and composure on the ball in the finish is what our defence definitely has to keep an eye on. How Will We Line Up? Since the Spurs game, our fans and pundits have been speculating that we may line up in the ACL with a back 3 – Super and Pedro flanking Bailey Wright as the central centre-back, Hafiz Nor and Chris van Huizen on the outside as overlapping wingbacks providing width. This might well be the situation for us tonight, though Bailey Wright’s absence at the weekend does call into question whether or not he is fit enough to start tonight. If he isn’t fit, we will still be able to call upon the likes of Hariss Harun and Lionel Tan to fill in at the back. While it will be