Bangkok United preview

Article by Adam O'Domhnaill

 

When and where? Wednesday 25th October, 8pm, Hong Kong Stadium.

Who are they?

Bangkok United were Thai League 1 runners up in 2022-2023, which was their best finish since 2018. Managed by Totchtawan Sripan, an experienced manager with over a hundred caps as a player for Thailand. He previously managed against Kitchee in the 2017 Lunar New Year Cup, as manager of Muangthong United. This Bangkok United's fourth appearance in the Asian Champions League, and their second time reaching the group stage. In 2007, they finished bottom of their group with three points, a tally which they have already doubled this year in just two games. Kitchee previously faced Bangkok in 2023 preseason, losing 3-2, with Kim Shin-Wook and Mikael on the scoresheet.

Totchtawan Sripan

Key players

Everton

Bangkok United are captained by Brazilian centre back Everton, who has been a key cog in their defence since 2018, and an ever-present this season. Offensively, their threat will come from another Brazilian, Willen, who has scored almost a goal a game in the Thai league since joining Bangkok in 2022. Former France U19 international Amadou Soukouna and Lebanese number 10 Bassel Jradi both bring experience of playing in European leagues; Soukouna in France and Bulgaria, and Jradi in Denmark, Norway, Croatia and Cyprus. Former Palestine winger Mahmoud Eid could also play, with Bangkok United the latest stop on journeyman career that has seen him play in his birthplace of Sweden, as well as Indonesia, Qatar and Bahrain. Willen and Eid are joint top scorers this season, each scoring five goals and not missing any of Bangkok’s nine games thus far. Experienced Brazilian winger Vander has been out injured with a knee injury since May, so we are unlikely to see him play.

Willen Mota

Looking at the local players, German-born Manuel Bihr has twenty caps for the national team, qualifying through parentage. A product of the VfB Stuttgart youth academy, he also played for FC Nürnberg before moving to Bangkok in 2016, making his debut for the Thai national team in 2017. The most internationally experienced member of the squad is box to box midfielder Thitiphan Puangchan, with over fifty caps and two Thai league titles during his career. Pok is a more advanced midfielder, approaching fifty caps for Thailand and has been with the club since 2017. Bangkok also have two more local players with over hundred games for the club, centre back Putthinan Wannasri and goalkeeper Warut Mekmusik, but neither have featured in the competition so far this season.

Form guide

Kitchee
Bangkok

Kitchee last 5 games- 2 wins, 3 defeats

Asian Champions League P2 L2

A wonder goal from Mikael was not enough to help Kitchee avoid defeat away in Jeonbuk, and similarly Jakob Jantscher’s header was too little too late at home to Lion City Sailors, both games ending in 2-1 defeats. Kitchee have lost four of their last six games, and defeat to Bangkok would mean three defeats in a row for the first time in years, such has been the dominance over recent years in Hong Kong.

Bangkok United last 5 games- 5 wins

Asian Champions League P2 W2

Bangkok went into halftime losing away at Lion City, before second half goals from Everton and Thitiphan secured a 2-1 win. At home to Jeonbuk winger Prince cancelled out Thossawat’s own goal to leave the game evenly poised at half time. It was then Jeonbuk’s turn to score an own goal soon after half time. Willen extended the lead in the last ten minutes and despite conceding in the eighty-eighth minute, Bangkok held on for a 3-2 victory.

Kitchee team news

Coach Kim and assistants

Coach Kim has big decisions to make ahead of the game. Potentially missing three overseas attacking players (Igor and Juninho have not played since the Lee Man and Jeonbuk games respectively, while Wookie last featured against RCFC in the Sapling Cup), does he try to go for the win from the off? Or does he set the team up to sit back and hope the remainin forwards can hit Bangkok on the counter.                                                          

The injury to Damcevski means that we will almost definitely see an all local player defence- likely to be Gerbig, Russell, Helio and Shinichi in front of Paulo. In the midfield, Mikael and Tan Chun Lok are probably two of the three to start in midfield, with Onazi, Scott and Cleiton competing for the third spot. Law, Jantscher and Mingazow will likely form the front three, with injury doubts around Igor, Juninho and Wookie. On the bench, we will almost definitely see Wang Zhenpeng, some of our fit overseas contingent and then local players and youngsters to complete the lineup, such as Huang Yang, Cheng Chin-Lung and Matthew Slattery. We did see a switch to a 3-5-2 in the closing stages of the Lion City match, but it would be a surprise if we started this way against Bangkok.

Can Kitchee win?

Bangkok United have made a great start to the season, both domestically and in the Asian Champions League. It will be a tough night at Hong Kong Stadium for the boys in blue. The optimist in me wants to predict a Kitchee win, the realist expects Bangkok to triumph, probably by a larger margin than Kitchee’s previous two continental games. As mentioned earlier, this would condemn Kitchee to three defeats in a row and four defeats in the last seven.

Hope to see you there, if you’ve not got tickets yet you can buy on the door. There may be a long queue so allow plenty of time. There will be plenty available at https://venue.cityline.com/utsvInternet/internet/eventDetail?event=42331&lang=en , with collection available at various locations around Hong Kong. There is a $15 booking fee for this option.