Thailand's Muangboon shakes off Window 1 loss, prepares for crucial upcoming rivalry games

BANGKOK (Thailand) - The final score between Thailand and Korea in the first window of the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Qualifiers was not expected to be close. Korea were a World Cup level team, while Thailand had not qualified to the FIBA Asia Cup for seven years. With the game being played in Seoul, a blow-out victory was expected for the home team.

The win didn’t come as easily as many thought it would.

Thailand held a 7-point lead at one point in the first half and were up by two heading into the halftime break. It was a team effort with everybody chipping in and motivating each other that resulted in the inspiring performance.

"We were looking at it shot by shot. We communicated the whole time. If anyone made a mistake, we cheered them back up. Everyone was lifting each other up," said starting point guard Nattakarn Muangboon.

However, that wasn’t enough. Korea flipped the switched and commanded a lead as big as 19 points in the final quarter. Thailand were able to chip the deficit down to 7 points, but there was not enough time left in the game to conjure a comeback.

"It did feel a bit unfortunate," Muangboon said of his feelings after the loss in which he finished with 5 points and 5 assists. "We were really competing, but they executed better than us late in the game and we lost."

"It was a good feeling to play against a world-class team, gathering experience to improve both personally and as a team."

 For Thailand and for Muangboon, the most important issue on their minds right now should be to put that loss in the back of their heads. The road to qualifying for FIBA Asia Cup 2021 continues and it doesn’t get any easier. After facing Korea in the first window, Thailand will now have upcoming scheduled games against neighboring rivals Indonesia and the Philippines.

"Don’t be complacent," Muangboon said of what the team has to focus on in the upcoming games.

"Indonesia are a good team and they are our long-time rivals," said Muangboon about their Group A and South East Asian rivals. "We recently beat them in the Southeast Asian Games [in 2019], but we won’t underestimate them."

"Timnas" also lost their first game to Korea in the first window, 109-76. In their second game of the window, Indonesia suffered another defeat at the hands of the Philippines, 100-70.

"[For the Philippines,] we have to respect that they are at a world-class level. Personally, being able to play against them is a good experience by being able to play against players better than us."

The upcoming qualifier games will be crucial for Thailand in their path to qualifying for Asia Cup 2021. Already with one loss on their hands, it would be best to come away with two wins in the upcoming windows.

In particular, it will be important to secure the win against Indonesia as the two teams are expected to be edging each other out for third-place in the group. Though the third-placed teams in each group do not directly advance to the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 as the top two teams do, they will get a chance to play in a play-in tournament against the other third-place teams to earn their Asia Cup 2021 spots.

For Thailand to earn that spot, Muangboon emphasized on putting in hard work.

"We have to train harder," he said. "Personally, I have to train harder, too. We have to be physically ready and make sure we’re all on the same page with in the team."

FIBA