The Thai team shows signs of decline in Southeast Asia In the past 4 years, Thai football not only has not progressed to the Asian level as expected by football players in this country, on the contrary, they have clearly declined. Thailand is now 30 places behind Vietnam in the world rankings, despite spending a lot of money to invite reputable and famous coaches. Thairath wrote: “Who is not ashamed but I do. Since taking the chair of the President of the Thai Football Federation, Mr. Somyot has made everyone seem to have hope that Thai football will grow in stature and professionalism. In the end, all talk is just a dream. Thailand’s achievements are like falling into the abyss where they used to be the eldest brother. They were eliminated in the second qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup in Asia, with a score worse than their regional rivals, Malaysia. Like this, are you embarrassed?”. Page Thairath continued to criticize: “Look at Vietnam. They have risen to the number one position in Southeast Asia and 30 places above Thailand. Thailand has been terrible since President Somyot came to power. Is Japanese coach Akira Nishino worth such a large amount of money (30 million baht/year, equivalent to more than 20 billion VND/year)? At the very least, it must be exchanged with achievements. Because if you take that money to hire a Thai coach, the achievement is just that.” Siam Sports page also borrowed the words of former player Somchai Chuayboonchum to put pressure on coach Nishino: “The salary Nishino is receiving is too high compared to the results Thailand received. It’s a shame Thailand didn’t make it to the next round. The team seems to lag behind other competitors in Southeast Asia like Vietnam and Malaysia.” In the article, the author expressed concern about Thailand’s decline in the region as well as the quality of the Thai League: “Thailand team started to retreat and obviously fell into the abyss. At SEA Games, Thailand used to be a big man, but in the blink of an eye, the glorious past was gone. Everything was lower than expected. There is no title, no joy of winning and the Thai League is also starting to show signs of faltering. After that, Thai League is no longer the most appreciated tournament of the region. The Thai audience once again felt pain when the Thai team failed miserably in the 2022 World Cup. Vietnamese football is in the No. 1 position in Southeast Asia. If we stay in this situation, will we be able to ‘survive’ at SEA Games 31?”. Contrary to previous speculations of experts and fans, the Thai Football Federation did not fire coach Nishino. Not only that, they also decided to recruit some Japanese assistants to support Mr. Nishino in the near future. “I understand coach Nishino and the players very well. There are many objective reasons affecting the team’s results. From the detection of some cases of Covid-19, the team’s preparation plan has been greatly affected. Even the whole team could not practice anything in Thailand before going to the UAE. As for why coach Nishino doesn’t have any Japanese assistants, from the outset, the federation asked him if he wanted to bring any fellow assistants to Thailand, but he insisted he wanted to go to Thailand. alone. We never stopped Coach Nishino from using a Japanese assistant. However, we are willing to hire more Japanese assistants for Coach Nishino and this will not affect the salary that the federation pays him,” – announced President Somyot Poompanmoung. In addition, when asked by a reporter whether during the economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 epidemic, whether coach Nishino would have his salary cut, chairman Somyot Poompanmoung affirmed: “Based on the new contract, coach Nishino’s salary is 33 million baht/year, equivalent to about 2.75 million baht/month (approximately 2 billion VND). This new level is applied after we have implemented implement a policy of reducing wages for all employees of the union”.

Here, mussels are not only a specialty dish with a famous brand throughout the country, but thanks to that, people have a fairly stable income. Every day, thanks to mussels, a section of La River in Ben Hen village is as bustling as a miniature market. Present in Ben Hen village, witnessing the busy buying and selling scene, besides in the village, the stoves boiling mussels smoke and the aroma from boiled mussels spreads throughout the whole area. The smokey mussels boiling stoves in Ben Hen Boiling mussels in a hut, Nguyen Thi Hoa, from Ben Hen village, Truong Son commune, Duc Tho district (Ha Tinh), said: “I don’t know when this profession was formed, only know that generations People in Ben Hen village, when born and grow up, all follow each other in the profession of raking mussels and boiling mussels. All expenses in life, building houses, buying supplies, taking care of their children and grandchildren’s education, all depend on income from mussel farming. According to Ms. Hoa, in the past, mussel making was difficult, very hard, all day long, husband and wife, brothers and sisters were stuck in the river, just worried about making enough to eat, did not have enough money, because at that time the price of mussels was too cheap. About 10 years ago, when mussels became a clean food, a popular specialty, the price was high, so the mussel industry in Ben Hen is growing strongly and bringing a good source of income. determined for the people. Ben Hen is growing stronger and bringing a fairly stable source of income The reason is called the profession “going backward” because in the past, mussel making was not as modern as it is now, to catch mussels, people had to use a rake with a rectangular trough, 1-1.5m long handle to rake. The rake just went backwards and shook it to treat the mussels. Now, just sitting on a motorboat, plugging a rake into the sand and then running the engine along the river a few times, there are dozens of kilograms of mussels. Because the value of mussels is high and the mussels in Ben Hen have affirmed their brand, many traders have come to the place to buy in large quantities and then transport them everywhere for consumption. Thanks to that, mussel workers do not have to worry about output, raking as much as they can consume. The mussel fishing season lasts almost all year round, but the peak season and the most mussels are from January to June of the lunar calendar. Ben Hen village currently has 150 households living by raking mussels – a job “going backwards”. Ben Hen village currently has 150 households living by raking mussels – a job that “goes backward”, sunbathing with his back, his face in the water all day, and working hard at night picking and washing mussels. Although it is less difficult than before, the job of making mussels requires health, perseverance and hard work. After scraping, all mussels are used up, the shells are gathered and calcined into lime for construction, agricultural production or finely milled as food for chickens and ducks; mussel intestine used to process dishes; Mussels are used to make soup. Mr. Nguyen Quang Tuan, a resident of Ben Hen told reporters about the process of making mussels. He said: “We men, who are healthy, go on a motorboat to rake mussels on the river, on average 2-3 people per boat. And women stay at home to soak mussels, boil mussels, treat mussels clean… Every day, work usually starts from 2-3 am until late afternoon”. Mussels enrich the whole village Sharing with reporters, Ms. Nguyen Thi Sen, who has been involved in this profession for a long time, said: “Mussels are “a blessing from heaven” given to these villagers, my whole family has been working as mussel rakes for 4 generations on the La River. I also ate mussels but grew up, so even though I worked hard, I still had to keep the traditional profession of the village, “said Ms. Sen. Currently, mussels here are considered a clean specialty Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa, a resident of Hen wharf confided: “In the past, every day my husband and I just needed to go along the La River to rake a few tons of mussels, but now the mussel production is increasingly depleted, so people have to overcome kilometers along the river Ngan Sau, Ngan Pho or upstream Ben Thuy bridge (Vinh City) to bring back mussels. According to Mr. Tuan, in the peak season, there are boats raking more than 1 ton of mussels/day, the remaining average is 300-600kg/boat. The average income from making mussels is about 500,000 – 1 million VND/house/day. Compared to other occupations, this is the profession that is bringing in the highest and most stable income, creating many jobs for people… Especially, mussels here are now considered a clean specialty with economic value. high so people are very secure to stick to the job.