FA Cup 3rd Round
Chonburi 1-0 Samut Sakhon
(HT: 1-0)
Venue: Chonburi Sports College Stadium
7th July, 2010
A laboured victory over a stubborn Samut Sakhon side sees Chonburi through to the 4th round of the FA Cup.
I think it's fair to say that FA Cup fever is yet to arrive in Chonburi. A sparse crowd witnessed a dull encounter between a rather poor 2nd division side and an unbalanced home team showing seven changes from last Sunday's starting line up. There really isn't that much to report.
Jetsadakorn took his goal well, curling a shot inside the far post, and Phaisan looked fairly comfortable in his first appearance after a long lay off. Wanich Jaisaen came on for his debut senior outing and showed that he has a good touch, is quick and is not afraid to shoot. And that's about it.
Even the vast majority of those who bothered to turn up seemed to be amusing themselves rather than following the "action" on the pitch - I spent most of my time swatting mosquitoes, discussing cold remedies and rueing the fact that I was missing the season one finale of "Glee". Indeed, everyone I spoke to afterwards said how poor they thought the game was and that is a shame for the FA Cup.
I was fully in favour of the tournament being reintroduced last season, and there's no doubt that interest will pick up when we reach the business end of the competition, but the organisers need to have a serious rethink about the way it is run. Spreading out the 3rd round over nearly eight weeks is clearly a mistake. There's no sense of event and it really did seem like a chore going along yesterday.
Why not set aside one weekend in the domestic calendar for cup ties? Or play all the games on a Tuesday and Wednesday evening if you have to, with 7:30pm or 8:00pm kick offs. Turn it into an occasion. Anything but this. Please!
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