My Thai Tribute by Neil Zimmerman: 2011

2nd January, 2011: Neil Zimmerman's article about Surat Sukha from Four Four Two magazine.

My Thai Tribute
by Neil Zimmerman

For months now I have had the idea of trying to adapt Mary Wells' song "My Guy" to "My Thai" in homage to my favourite Melbourne Victory player of this season, Surat Sukha but being as musically challenged as I am it has all but come to nothing, so this will be my tribute instead.

Whilst he may never come close to the adoration that I have for Carlos Hernandez, the Thai international has certainly grown on me this season. It has not only been his performances on the pitch that have impressed me but also the manner in which he plays his football. I would go as far as to say that he is one of the genuine nice guys of the A-League.

In a season where the rest of the team has been far from consistent, Sukha has been one of the standout performers for the Victory. Only one poor match springs to mind, that being the first Melbourne derby where it seems the occasion had got to the former Chonburi FC player. But it was the return match against Heart where Sukha marked himself as one of our players of the seasons.

Hoping for the same result via the same means, the Heart bombarded his wing with all their attacking play coming through his side of the pitch and in particular, Rutger Worm. This time however the occasion did not get to the central midfielder/full back as repelled repeat Heart forays.

As I alluded to earlier, I also admire the way he conducts himself on the pitch. Fouls are always a part of a football and as a defender you always going to commit a fair few, it's just the nature of the game. The way one reacts after being pulled up for a foul, says much about the player. For Sukha, it's usually an acknowledgment of the foul and then a check of his opponent to see if they are okay. Much like his football, it is done with little fuss.

Contrast this to the Kevin Muscat school of "Deny, deny, deny". And yes there will be those that will bring up "that" tackle on Matthew Leckie. Yes, it was a bad tackle. Yes, it was a clumsy tackle. Yes, it was a tackle that unfortunately put a player out for a number of weeks. But it definitely wasn't a malicious one and the persecution that followed was definitely unnecessary and unwarranted.

The success of Surat Sukha, so far in the A-League should provide confidence to players from South East Asia that they can indeed make it in the A-League and if they play in his style then I'm all for it. There's nothing you can do . . .