The Thai Federation is set to announce next week the return of Miguel Rodrigo Conde. It is confirmed that the former Thai coach from 2016 to 2017 has agreed to temporarily replace José Lucas Mena Navarro, also known as ‘Pato’, on the bench of the Asian team. ‘Pato’ had committed to Thailand. But severe bacterial pneumonia caused by Influenza A prevented him from traveling to Bangkok for the presentation scheduled on February 11. The Alicante coach is recovering favorably at the Reina Sofía Hospital in Tudela. His representative, Raúl Estévez, confirmed that he will need time to complete his recovery.
In this delicate situation, Adisak Benjasiriwan, vice president of the Federation and head of the Thai Futsal Committee, personally asked Miguel Rodrigo to take over as the technical director of the ‘Elephants’ as an emergency solution.
Despite not reaching an economic agreement in November for his signing, the Granada coach has accepted the proposal and will sign a three-month contract. Given the good relationship between both and understanding that it was an extraordinarily complex situation, Miguel Rodrigo has decided to take on the challenge of returning to lead Thailand. On an interim basis with the sole objective of securing Uzbekistan’s qualification for the World Cup in the Asian Cup. Which will be held in Bangkok from April 17 to 28.
Rodrigo will join the Thailand national team’s training sessions in the coming days. Another Spaniard, Eloy Alonso, who was already acting as an assistant coach under former coach César Núñez, and the Iranian Reza Cordy led the sessions since February 17. When ‘Pato’ is medically discharged and given medical permission, he will relieve Miguel Rodrigo. The scheduled date is July 11. Graduated from INEF, he is one of the Spanish technicians with the greatest international experience. In Thailand, fans know him by the nickname ‘The Magician.’ His CV includes experiences in Italy and Russia. He has also coached two other Asian teams, Vietnam (2017-2019) and Japan between 2009 and 2016, winning two Asian Cups.
He knows the country and most of the players. In his previous stage in charge of Thailand, he was proclaimed champion of the Southeast Asian Championship. It’s a safe bet. Furthermore, in the 2016 World Cup in Colombia, with just 25 work sessions. After the dismissal of the Dutchman Vic Hermans, he managed to equal the best historical result of the Asian team in a World Cup event: reaching the round of 16.
In the Asian Cup, the 4 places that FIFA has assigned to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) will be put into play.
The Thai team will act as the host. The team provisionally led by Miguel Rodrigo is in Group A along with China, Myanmar, and Vietnam. With whom he was their player in Segovia, the Argentine Diego Giustozzi. In Group B, with Iraq and Australia, there will be a duel of Spanish coaches between the World Cup host, already qualified Uzbekistan with Venancio Lopez, and Saudi Arabia, with Andreu Plaza (former Barça coach). In Group C, Japan, Tajikistan, Republic of Korea, and Kyrgyzstan, with the Catalan Lluis Bernat at the helm. Finally, in Group D, the big favorite, Iran, will play Bahrain, Afghanistan, and Kuwait.
Eleven of the 24 teams that will compete in the World Cup in Uzbekistan are already known. Along with the host, New Zealand was the first country to achieve this as a representative of Oceania and will play the first World Championship in its history. In Europe, the current champion (Portugal), Spain, France (another debutant), Kazakhstan, and Ukraine have qualified. Two places remain for UEFA, which will come from a play-off between the Netherlands and Finland, and Poland against Croatia (April 12-17).
The names of the CONMEBOL representatives have been revealed (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Venezuela). Thirteen more countries remain to be discovered. Three teams from the African Football Confederation, four from North America, Central America, and the Caribbean, and four other Asian teams (AFC) will complete the lineup of the tenth edition of the World Championship through the qualifying tournaments of Asia (Thailand, April 17-28), CAF (Morocco, April 8-17), and CONCACAF (Nicaragua, April 13-20).
