My interview with Muay Thai commentator, and Chonburi fan, Chaiyakrit Aamlid.
What have been your impressions of Chonburi so far this season?
The best way to sum it up is “mid-level team”. It hasn’t been a good season and it is clear that we are a long way away from the bigger Thai league 1 teams.
Which has been our best performance?
This is such a hard question to answer since a lot of our “good” performances had a lot of luck involved. Early on in the season we managed to beat Nakhon Ratchasima 3-1, it’s a good result, however, we can’t forget how poorly we played in the first half. So if we do not take the first half into consideration, it was probably our best performance.
Another match that can be talked about is our 3-2 win against Ratchaburi. The first half was great, scored two goals and the players looked confident, however, in the beginning of the second half, confidence turned into over-confidence, nervousness and doubt. Chonburi managed to concede two goals. Admittedly one of the goals that Ratchaburi scored was from a penalty, some might say the penalty was harsh. One of our players tried to head the ball away but ended up heading it to one of his hands…. anyways, the last few minutes Chonburi managed to push on and eventually Junior Lopez scored the winning goal from long range. Was absolutely delighted to get that win.
And our worst?
Way too many to name, but I will try my best. Losing 4-0 to Buriram early on in the season was hard to watch. That match made everyone believe Buriram were going to be an unstoppable force once again this season. However, after that huge win for Buriram, they started to perform poorly, which made Chonburi’s result look pathetic. I still wouldn’t class this as our worst performance since Buriram do have top thai league players. Another match to forget is our 3-0 loss to Chiangrai…at home! Chiangrai absolutely outplayed us and it looked like a bunch of professionals were bullying a school team. Sadly I was at this game, but luckily, I didn’t have a great view of it since I was sat behind one of the goals.
Losing 4-1 to Samut Prakan was another poor performance that I want to forget, the defending was atrocious and the players never looked like they wanted to win the match, it seemed like they accepted defeat before the game started. However, this match is still not my worst match of the season. The worst match of the season for me is out 1-0 loss to Prachuap. Prachuap so far this season has played 16 matches and only won 3, one of those 3 was against the “famous” Chonburi FC. The match itself was so boring I found it hard to stay awake for it. Chonburi played Prachuap after defeating Trat FC 3-2 so many would expect Chonburi to do well against Prachuap… instead we witnessed a very poor team who failed to connect anything. Each individual player was poor and knows that they should have done better.
Which players have impressed you most this season?
Probably Kritsada Kaman, and I am only saying this because he is still young but it is clear that he is important for the team. He has shown that he can play in multiple positions but I think the center midfield spot suits him just fine. I wouldn’t have chosen him if he was already in his mid 20’s but he is still young and has time to improve. Hopefully he can continue to get better. Sadly, if he does get better, Chonburi will probably sell him to another team, that seems to be what Chonburi does all the time.
Which players have you been most disappointed with?
Kroekrit has been extremely disappointing as he is meant to be one of our top players, but the season we have seen from him so far does not suggest that. He is also our captain but he doesn’t seem to stand out at all. He does not seem like a motivator and I’m still baffled as to why they gave him Pipop’s number 10 shirt in the first place. It’s clear that Sinthaweechai has a stronger connection with the fans and the players despite the fact that he has only recently made his return.
I also want to add that (in case you haven’t figured it out) I am not the biggest fan of Kroekrit, let us not forget about the picture of him holding up the Muang Thong scarf whilst still playing for Chonburi. I heard Muang Thong has sold some of their top players, so hopefully they have room for Kroekrit now, wouldn’t care if he left at all.
What are your thoughts on the new signings?
I’m happy by some of them and baffled by some them. I am happy about Kelic joining since Chonburi does need a strong/commanding center back, our defence hasn’t been great so hopefully he can help us out there. Durosinmi is a player I’m excited to see play for Chonburi, it’s clear that he is delighted with the move and I am certain he will bring good performances to the team. I’m not particularly happy with us signing Jaycee John because I don’t understand what he can bring to the team, it’s clear his best years are behind him and we got rid of Kushida because he wasn’t as good as he once was.
I just don’t see how Chonburi bringing in Jaycee John could benefit us in any way. Eliandro seems like another Caion but I am hoping he proves me wrong and scores more goals for us. As for Junior Eldstal… Never heard of him before but I am hoping he can perform better than Carli de Murga.
Once the season restarts, we may not be able to play our home matches at Chonburi Stadium. What are your thoughts on this?
Of course I miss going to the stadium to watch the matches but I guess now we are living in very special circumstances. If we aren’t allowed to play at our stadium it should apply to other teams as well. If that’s the case, I wouldn’t oppose to playing at a “central stadium” where every match takes place.
How do you do think the TPL/FAT have handled the current crisis?
Much better than the higher ups who are controlling Muay Thai that’s for sure. I’ve never been a fan of the FAT but at the end of the day it’s not them who make the final decisions, but then again, none of the higher ups seem to want to take much responsibility either.
What is the nature of your involvement with Muay Thai?
I was commentating at the Max Muay Thai stadium, but now the stadium is on a long break so I haven’t been doing that recently. At the moment I just run Muay Thai pages on Instagram and Twitter where I post about Muay Thai news, results, history and other topics.
Are there any good local young fighters we need to look out for?
Tawanchai Chor.Thaiset is a phenomenal fighter from Chonburi province that has been named the SAT fighter of the year. Although he is still young, it’s obvious that he one of the best fighters today. Petchjeeja is another fighter from Chonburi province who is phenomenal. She is from Ban Bueng district and competes on the Thai Fight promotions. Most of her fights end with her winning by knockout and she has also represented the Thai national team in Amateur boxing. Great young talent who can accomplish great things.
Which Thai footballers do you think would be good Muay Thai fighters?
I will give you a half biased answer, Sumethee Khokpho who is a goalkeeper at Ratchaburi trains at the same gym I train at under the same Kru. The gym is called O.Sansuk. He seems to love the sport and comes to the gym any chance he gets. He also works hard in Muay Thai training and trains like all the other fighters at the gym when he does have time to come to the training sessions. Though he is fairly new to the sport, he isn’t afraid to spar against anybody. That’s always a good sign.
Which two Thai footballers would you most like to see in a fight?
Don’t want to see any of them in a fight since they seem to go down so easily in football matches haha. And a lot of them who do go down don’t seem to be able to beat the “10 count”. So I think its best that footballers stay playing football and Muay Thai fighters continue to fight.
What are your thoughts on the clubs decision to allow Leesaw to miss the BG game to prepare for his boxing match?
Personally, to begin with, I am not a big fan of the 10 fight 10 show. I am sure that many people enjoy the show and good for them, but I tend to enjoy watching actual boxers get it done in the ring instead. Funny enough, the 10 fight 10 show is the most watched boxing/Muay Thai show in Thailand. It just shows how massively Muay Thai has dropped, celebrities fighting each other will not help Muay Thai or boxing grow in anyway, unless they are also willing to follow & talk about the sport publicly and go attend the actual fights themselves.
I would not have a problem if Leesaw wanted to participate on the show during the off season, however, him participating on the show whilst the season was still on is disgraceful. It proved to me and a lot of other fans that he is more committed to getting his name out there than he is to Chonburi FC. Now he is gone, good riddance.
Here’s a chance to plug your social media accounts. Off you go…
I run a page called Muay Thai Results (@muaythairesults) on Instagram where I post the latest results from the most elite Muay Thai stadiums and events. I also post Muay Thai news and other muay thai related content. I also do the same sort of thing on Twitter (@muaythaichai), on twitter I tend to post more about my personal opinions about Muay Thai topics, on Instagram I post the news and the results without my personal opinions.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
I hope that Chonburi FC can start performing a lot better because so far it has been far from impressive.
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