By Ivan Yeo
Both the Ivory Coast and Thailand came into their respective second World Cup match against each other looking to make amends for their dreadful first showings in their first matches.
Both teams fared better the second time around, but in the end, it was Thailand that put themselves in position to advance out of the group. Led by Orathai Srimanee’s first half brace, the Thai rallied from a first half deficit and held on to beat the Ivory Coast 3-2 in Ottawa.
Ivory Coast struck first in the 4th minute. IVC sent in a corner kick into the Thai penalty area, Christine Lohoues headed the ball into the six-yard box, Ines Nehry tried to beat Thai keeper Waraporn Boonsing and another Thai player to the ball, but all three missed as the ball moved further inside the six and Ange N’Guessan buried a point-blank open net shot at her near post to stake the Ivory Coast to the lead.
Thailand however had their response in the 26th minute. Anootsara Maijarern chased down a long ball sent from the back even though she appeared to be in an offside position. Nevertheless, Maijarern crossed a ball into the middle lanes just outside the six and Srimanee one-touched a ball past keeper Dominique Thiamale for the equalizer.
A wild first stoppage time then ensued. It started when Ivory Coast’s Nehry sprinted for goal, played a ball to Lohoues on the right, Lohoues’ run drew out Boonsing and Lohoues crossed a ball into the six and Nehry had another point blank open sitter, similiar to the one that resulted in her goal earlier. Nehry however sent the shot off the near post and back into play.
That missed chance came back to haunt the Ivory Coast, as Thailand’s Rattikan Thongsombut crossed a ball into the Ivory Coast penalty area and Srimanee headed a ball that hit off the crossbar, but crossed the goal line, which replays later confirmed, giving Thailand a crucial goal heading into halftime. Thailand doubled it’s lead in the 75th minute, as Maijarern chased down another long ball, though again, whether she was in an offside position or not was again up for debate. Maijarern again crossed into the penalty area, Thiamale could not get her hand on the ball, which then bounced over the Ivory Coast backline and Thanatta Chawong headed the ball into the back net to give the Thai the two-goal cushion.
That third goal turned out to be a much needed one for Thailand, as the Ivory Coast made one last push to salvage points. Josee Nahi took a ball from midfield, juked out a Thai defender, ran into the penalty area, which drew out Boonsing and Nahi slotted the shot past Boonsing into the back net to pull one back. Ivory Coast had one last shot to get the point in stoppage time, a shot by Lohoues was stopped by Boonsing, but the ball popped in the air, N’Guessan ran in and tried to hit the ball with her left foot, but she missed the ball, Boonsing quickly grabbed it and N’Guessan slammed the turf in apparent frustration at the missed opportunity.
Thailand concludes its Group B play with a tough match against Germany on June 15 in Winnpeg, while Ivory Coast will face Norway in Moncton the same day.
