It became a must-win match for Thai fans ever since the news that Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was trying to buy a 30 per cent stake in English club Liverpool stoked the flames of football passion in a country already crazy for the sport.

However, a sweet dream turned into a nightmare when millions watching the live TV coverage on Channel 7 and more than 45,000 fans who packed into the Rajamangala National Stadium on Wednesday night saw their team go down tamely to the visitors.

There is no one to blame for the humiliating loss. Even team manager Tawatchai Sajjakul’s attempt to build up the team’s confidence in a pre-match interview when he said “we have to win this game. Losing is not an option – even a draw would be unacceptable” did not help much.

What would help is more professionalism from those in charge.

Brazilian-born head coach Carlos Roberto Carvalho called his 22-member squad together for an intensive 12-day training camp in Chiang Mai on May 29 to make sure his players were 100 per cent prepared for the tough match against North Korea. But many team members did not report to training on time. Can this be called “professionalism”?

The unprofessional managerial system in the team later resulted in the sacking of talented midfielder Narongchai Wachiraban after he skipped training too often. And in the past month an unexpected delay in paying the daily allowance to the players caused problems in the Football Association of Thailand (FAT). It also reflected the poor organisation and the unprofessional management in the FAT.

Against North Korea, the Thai squad not only had too much pressure from their fans, but also considerable pressure due to their standing in the group – they were one point behind group leaders United Arab Emirates. The UAE team’s next match against Yemen is likely to result in a straightforward win for them, and now Thailand’s chances of going further in the competition are uncertain.

Many Thai players could not control their emotions or anger after trailing 2-1 early in the second half, with Niruj Surasiang receiving a yellow card for intentionally kicking over a corner flag in frustration.

Apart from having trouble controlling tempers and emotions, the Thai players also lost steam easily. Even Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was at the venue, said he was not happy over the team’s dismal form.

“It’s not too bad. The only problem is that they just lost possession of the ball and lost steam at the end too easily,” he said. “The way they played is a let-down to Thai fans.”

Although the 12 days of training in Chiang Mai was nothing but a waste of time and money, let the loss be a lesson for Thailand and at the same time we should look at North Korea and learn some lessons.

Compared with the Thai team, the North Koreans lack experience, but their physical abilities and determination were far superior. And although they were up against a strong team like Thailand and played amid nerve-wracking screams and cheering from Thai fans, they kept their cool under the pressure.

For Thailand, it’s no use crying over spilt milk. With only the top team in each group advancing to the final stage of the World Cup qualifiers, Thailand now stands a very slim chance of advancing to the next round.

Thailand still have three remaining matches to play in the group round-robin home-and-away preliminaries – against North Korea in an away match on September 8 and the United Arab Emirates and Yemen on home soil on October 13 and November 17 respectively.

It might be good news for the team to lose in early round. Sometimes we might find that the higher we climb, the further we can fall. Let’s just pray for a better future for Thai soccer.