Kroekrit double sends Thais through to Suzuki Cup final

Thailand booked their place in the AFF Suzuki Cup final when they saw off the Philippines 3-0 in the second-leg of their semi-final at the Rajamangala Stadium on Wednesday.
The first leg ended 0-0 four days ago, while Vietnam lead Malaysia 2-1 from the other semi-final first-leg with the return game set for December 11.
Chanathip Songkrasin opened the scoring in the second-leg of the semi-final after only seven minutes and Kroekrit Taweekarn rewarded Thailand's dominance with a second goal 12 minutes after the interval.
The visitors were reduced to 10 men when Martin Steuble was sent off before Kroekrit sealed a 3-0 aggregate victory with his second of the night four minutes from time.
Thailand have won the competition three times but they will be looking to end a 12-year drought in the final, which kicks off with the first-leg in Bangkok next Wednesday.
The Thais were frustrated in a goalless draw in the first leg in Manila but they dominated from the opening whistle in Bangkok and broke the deadlock early on as a cross from the left by Kroekrit was knocked down in the box by Narubadin Weerawatnodom to an unmarked Chanathip, who smashed the ball into the bottom corner.
The hosts were all over their opponents in the opening half but they wasted a chance to extend their advantage when Prakit Deeprom failed to get a shot away when he was sent clear on goal just before half-time.
However, Prakit would make up for that in the 57th minute when he sent a superb pass from the centre circle into the path of Kroekrit, who shook off the attention of defender Simone Rota before turning a low shot past Philippines goalkeeper Patrick Deyto.
The Philippines were beaten in the previous two AFF Suzuki Cup semi-finals in 2010 and 2012 and their hopes of rescuing the match all but disappeared when Steuble received his second yellow card of the match with eight minutes left.
Kroekrit then applied the finishing touch in the 86th minute as he received a pass from Sarach Yooyen on the left of the Philippines box and stepped inside a challenge before steering the ball past Deyto.
Source: AFP