When a team is serious about winning the title, it spares no effort in recruiting the best in the market to boost the squad. And FAS Women’s National League’s Royal ARION Women’s FC did just that! The 18-year-old (established in 2005) club recruited 4 current Thailand National Women’s Team players who played in the last two editions of the FIFA Women’s World Cup for the new season!
Junpiter Futbol had the great privilege to sit down with Boonsing Waraporn (Goalkeeper), Srangthaisong Sunisa (Defender), Khueanpet Pikul (Midfielder), and Waenngoen Orapin (Midfielder/Striker) at Cafe Football for an exclusive chat.
The ninth edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup is counting down to the semi-final now. What do you think of the World Cup so far?
Pikul (P): In my opinion, Sweden is probably the strongest team in this tournament, I think they will win the World Cup this year.
Sunisa (S): Yes, I agree. Sweden has a strong squad!
Waraporn (W): Credit must go to Australia and New Zealand, both countries are doing a great job as the hosts. Everything is ready and it has been a great tournament thus far.
Orapin (O): My favourite Japan is out! Haha.
All of you had participated in the past 2 editions of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, Canada 2015 and France 2019, how do you feel about not being able to involve in the current edition?
W/ S: Honestly, we can’t hide our feelings, it’s really sad for us not to be involved. We find it a pity not to qualify this time.
P: And it doesn’t help that I got injured during a crucial match against Australia in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup. I just couldn’t contribute much to the team. I am feeling bad.
O: In addition, the limited training time during Covid was a huge challenge as well. All of us were not in the best condition then. But regardless, we will have to get over this and work hard for the next one to come.
Representing Southeast Asia in this World Cup, there are Philippines and Vietnam. What do you think of their performances and their World Cup?
O/ W: Both teams had excellent training schedules being planned out even during the Covid period which was amazing. For example, Vietnam embarked on a training trip to Spain in late 2021 before competing in the Women’s Asian Cup. Their pre-World Cup preparation included training stints in Japan, Germany and New Zealand too. And for Philippines, they conducted a training camp in the United States during the Covid period as well.
P: Overall, I think both teams prepared and did very well in the World Cup. Philippines even registered their first-ever victory against hosts New Zealand. Credits have to be given to them.
Since all of you have played in FIFA Women’s World Cup, which has to be your best World Cup memory?
P/ O/ S: Our best World Cup memory has to be our first-ever World Cup victory against Ivory Coast back in Canada 2015! Ivory Coast scored very early in the game but we fought back to win it 3-2 in front of nearly 19,000 spectators at Ottawa. Probably, the next memory I could think of was playing against a strong Sweden in France 2019. We lost that match 5-1 but that was a strong showing by us especially recovering from the infamous 13-0 loss to the United States in our first match.
And we have to mention this on behalf of Waraporn (W: Haha) – she was voted on FIFA website as the Best Goalkeeper after the first round in France 2019!
Thank you for bringing us so many insightful Thai football details on the FIFA Women’s World Cup. So generally, how’s football for you growing up in Thailand?
P/ S: There are certainly a lot of female footballers in Thailand for sure. And we always believe in getting them involved and exposing them to a higher level of football as early as we can. Just like recently, our Thailand Women’s Team has drafted many new bloods. Not only they are new, they are all young and hungry for success. And that’s what we want for our team as well.
Then, of course, we are also hoping to have more support coming in for women’s football in Thailand too. For us, we are considered extremely fortunate as we have our club, BGC-CAS supporting us all these years. Special mention to Mr. Kasom Chanawongse, the club’s President. He is the one who has been supporting us since we were young. Just can’t thank him enough.
When we talk about Thai football, there will always be a name that pops up – Madam Pang (Nualphan Lamsam). Recently, Madam Pang also announced her intention to run for the FA Thailand President. What do you think of that?
All: She is one of the best, if not the best candidate to lead Thai football forward. All of us have worked with her and we know she focuses a lot on improving football, in particular women’s football. She’s the type that really has football in her heart. In fact, some of us actually used to work in Muang Thai Insurance where Madam Pang is the CEO of the company. She really gives us all the support we need to succeed both on and off the field.
So what makes you ladies decided to come over to Singapore to play for Royal Arion?
All: All of us feel the same, we wanted to have this new experience of going to a foreign country to play football. When we were first informed about this opportunity, there were actually six of us being shortlisted. Eventually, the other two decided not to leave Thailand. Four of us thought otherwise and we decided to give it a try. Last but not least, we can learn English!
What will be your Goal in Singapore?
O: It is not easy for us to be here to continue pursuing a football dream. So I want to repay all the trusts that we have received by scoring lots of goals. I also want to make many people interested in women’s football.
S: I hope that we can contribute and help to bring up the level of women’s football here in Singapore.
P: I want to win the league title and be the champion.
W: I want to be a champion. And I want to be able to speak English too!
Boonsing Waraporn, Srangthaisong Sunisa, Khueanpet Pikul, and Waenngoen Orapin’s involvement in Royal ARION is made possible by Cafe Football and The Arena. Catch 4 of them ‘Live’ on 20 Aug 2023, SGT 5pm at Toa Payoh Stadium.
Royal Arion WFC
Arion was founded in 2005 by 5 ladies looking to develop their skills and promote football amongst ladies in the community. Ladies of all skill levels are welcomed, and the club slowly expanded to its size today with a team in each of the women’s leagues in Singapore, namely Still Aerion Women’s (FAS Women’s Premier League and Roya Arion WFC (FAS Women’s National League).
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