Chiang Mai Football Club (Part 3/3)

In my final post about Chiang Mai FC, I'm going to talk about the elephant in the room...the actual football.

First things first,there are some fantastic team names in Thai football. Many large companies and institutions have their own teams that play at a high level; in the Thai Premier League you have teams representing the armed forces:

 You have the work team of the Port Authority of Thailand:

And, with quite possibly my favourite club badge of any team in any country, TOT (Telephone Organisation of Thailand) FC:

Chiang Mai FC play in Yamaha League One, where if anything the teams are even better. We have a police team:

A team owned/sponsored by Honda:

And, perhaps most strangely of all:

Yep, that's the Thailand Tobacco Monopoly team.

For all the exciting names, most of the teams I've seen tend to be similar. Most of the team is composed of short, nippy Thai guys, with a handful of foreign players in the squad. This is because Thai football has a quota system: six foreign players from any nation and one Asian Federation player are allowed on the roster, though only four can play on any particular match day.

Chiang Mai's designated players for this season

Though I'm not really fussed one way or another, the quota system does have its advantages. There are lots of spots for Thai players (which is fair enough), and it means that the foreigners are usually brought in to do a specific job. Many of the overseas players are either jinky Brazilians or strapping African lads who stand a foot taller than the average Thai player and usually play centre back or centre forward to get the headers. My current favourite player is El Mehdi Sidqy from Morocco- he's almost two meters tall and stacked. Most of the time he stood like a sentinel at the back; whenever an opposition player tried to make a run or challenge him for the ball, they'd inevitably just bounce off.

#brickshithouse

Ok, now for the downside- the quality of football is not that great. I've probably been spoiled by years of watching Manchester United (and other Premier League teams)- but even compared with the fourth tier of English football, Yamaha League 1 doesn't stand up too well. The positives: there's a lot of good, short passing and the teams seem to be pretty well-drilled at set pieces. I'd say at least half of the goals I've seen at CMFC were scored from corners or free kicks lofted into the box.The negatives: the play often gets bogged down in midfield and there's little use of long passing to spread the ball out wide. Strikers seem to be pretty ineffective, and there's not much effort to make attempts from outside the six-yard box. If the strikers do get a goal, it tends to be either

a) a scrappy tap in after confusion in the box.

Like this, but with about five more players trying to get a foot on it

b) the defenders have pushed all the way up to get involved in the midfield melee, and so the striker runs half the length of the pitch and pokes away after a one-on-one.

Which begs the question...why do I keep going? Well for one thing, the poor quality means that a goal can come from anywhere. You literally don't know what's going to happen next: you could be playing absolutely terribly, but one deflected pass in midfield and your striker is through on goal. A year or two ago we absolutely pumped a small-town team 5-0, and it was magnificent- the crowd bouncing, the players getting stuck in, everyone having a fantastic time (except the players from Uthai Thani Forest, but nevermind). For the excitement, crowds, and the unique stadium, I expect I'll be heading to Chiang Mai games for a long time to come.

สู้ๆเชียงใหม่!