World Cup heartbreak for Chaba Kaew

Football

THAILAND’S DREAM of competing in their third consecutive Women’s World Cup is over after the ‘Chaba Kaew’ fell 2-0 to Cameroon in a qualifying playoff last Saturday (Feb 18).

This year’s World Cup, which will be played from July 20 to Aug 20 in New Zealand and Australia with the United States as defending champions, will be the first edition to feature 32 teams.

The Thai women competed in both the 2015 and 2019 tournaments but will miss this year’s edition.

Cameroon, who reached the last 16 at the 2015 and 2019 tournaments, triumphed at Waikato Stadium in Hamilton following two late goals from substitute Gabrielle Onguene in a chaotic match that featured 24 minutes of added time.

In the most evenly matched of the four games in New Zealand thus far, Thailand began the brighter before Cameroon slowly began to take a grip on proceedings.