Football fans delighted with stadium change

Lao supporters will be overjoyed with the organising committee's decision to move the Laos-Singapore men's football match on Thursday to the National Stadium.

The change was made in light of inadequate seating at the Chao Anouvong Stadium which can accommodate only 6,000 spectators and cannot cope with the huge home crowd.

There has been an increased swell of support for the Lao side after they remained undefeated in the tournament with a 2-0 win over Indonesia on Monday.

Most fans had to watch the team's match on a large television screen set up outside the Chao Anouvong Stadium and were disappointed they could not get a seat.

Yet despite the National Stadium having a capacity of more than 20,000 people, there was still not enough space for the home supporters when Laos played Myanmar last Saturday.

The Lao men's squad is edging closer to a semifinals berth after moving to the top of Group B after Monday's result. They will meet Singapore on Thursday at 5.45pm with both sides only needing a draw to progress to the next round.

The slogans “We love Laos ”, “Laos go…go” and “We are the 12th player in your team” have been loud from spectators: they feel it could make the difference to their team's performance.

The last time Laos and Singapore met was at the SEA Games in 2007 in Nakhon Ratchasima , Thailand . Both teams played in Group B alongside Vietnam and Malaysia .

That match ended in a 0-0 draw, but the Singaporean side went on to finish as bronze medallists while Laos was knocked out in the qualifying round.

Thursday's first match will be between Myanmar and Indonesia at 3pm.

By Sisay Vilaysack
(Latest Update Decembe 9 , 2009)