Thai FA president orders food for players due to repetitive menu

After several football teams competing in the Southeast Asian Games encountered hotel and transportation troubles, the Thai football team ran into problems with food and water after they were repeatedly served with the same menu and provided with only two bottles of water per player.

According to a post on the Football Association of Thailand Facebook account, the repetitive menu prompted FA President Gen. Somyot Poompanmuang to provide athletes and coaches additional Thai food until the end of the competition.

According to Victoria Tulad's Sunday report on 24 Oras Weekend, Thailand head coach Akira Nishino was thankful for what Philippine hosts had provided, but he also wanted his players to have "a good environment and a good perfect meal."

"As a policy for the footballers... I'm wishing that the organizer can prepare for all the teams and players," Nishino added.

Century Park Hotel Manila on Sunday night aired its explanation on the problems raised by the Thai football team.

The hotel said the cycle menu was part of the agreement with the organizers, as well as the number of water bottles given to each person. However, Century Park Hotel said it will coordinate with the organizers for the said concern.

"Rest assured that we continue to uphold our mission to provide a home away from home to all our guests. We will strive to make the SEA Games delegation’s stay a memorable one in the coming days," the hotel said.

In a Saturday Instagram post, the Thai football club, who also happen to be the SEA Games defending champion, said they had to cancel their first day of training due to delays in acquiring the athletes' identification cards at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

 

 

 

 

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Nov 23, 2019 at 3:07am PST

The team also pointed to Metro Manila's heavy traffic as a factor the led to the cancellation of practice.

"For the training yesterday, from the hotel to the training ground, it takes two hours so for us it's not realistic and we cannot make it by the time so we had to manage ourselves to have a training on the streets," Nishino said.

Men's football will kick off on Monday at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.

Thailand is set to face Indonesia on Tuesday, 3 p.m.

The biennial meet will officially open on November 30 at the Philippine Arena. — Ma. Angelica Garcia/DVM/BAP, GMA News