Pattaya: The Indian beach soccer national team suffered a 0-3 defeat against hosts Thailand in the opening match of Group A in the AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup 2025 at the Jomtien Beach Arena in Pattaya on Thursday.
Making their first appearance at the Beach Soccer Asian Cup since 2007, India began on a good note, holding the more fancied hosts goalless in an evenly-contested first period and creating a handful of chances. But ultimately, Thailand’s experience prevailed as they overpowered the Indians in the second and third periods, scoring in the 21st (Jake Stoten), 29th (Ratthaphong Nadee) and 33rd (Komkrit Nanan) minutes. A beach soccer match consists of three periods of 12 minutes each.
India will face Kuwait in the second match on Saturday. Kuwait went down 4-5 to Lebanon in their first game earlier in the day. The top two teams from the group will qualify for the quarter-finals.
The first period saw end-to-end action as both India and Thailand went all out in search of the opener with overhead kicks and volleys flying left, right and centre.
For India, Mohammed Akram saw a free-kick fizzle wide of the far post, while Satish Subhash’s low strike was collected by Thailand goalkeeper Suriya Boridet. Suriya denied Satish again a few minutes later, bravely closing him down in a one-on-one situation.
Backed by a strong home crowd, Thailand gradually gained momentum as they began creating meaningful chances. India goalkeeper Pratik Kankonkar was kept busy. After making a few decent saves, he was finally beaten in the 21st minute when Jake Stoten rifled an overhead strike into the roof of the net.
Buoyed by the opening goal, Thailand stepped on the gas and dominated the proceedings for the rest of the match. They made it two via Ratthaphong Nadee’s crisp right-footed volley that nestled into the bottom corner in the 29th minute. The last goal came four minutes later, perhaps the pick of the bunch for the hosts as Suriya passed to Komkrit Nanan, whose first touch set him up for a stunning overhead kick into the top corner.
(IANS)
