The team led by interim coach Sirisak Yodyadthai arrived at the Suvarnabhumi Airport in the evening and were welcomed by the army of media.

Sirisak said he was proud to make Thai people happy after the War Elephants started the Cup in disappointment by losing to India before recovering to finish second in group A following a win over Bahrain and a draw with UAE.

The team hit their target by reaching the round of 16 but their journey finnally came to an end, losing to China 1-2.

“I was a bit under pressure in the last three games as I was appointed to coach the team in th middle of the tournament. But the players have done pretty well as the 3-5-2 formation suits them and allows them to maximise their abilities,” said Sirisak.

The acting coach also said he still had no idea about his future with the team. “The Football Association of Thailand will call for a meeting on this subject later.”

Sala, signed on Saturday from French club Nantes for a reported fee of 17 million euros ($19.3 million), was flying to Cardiff aboard a small plane that disappeared from radars around 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of Guernsey on Monday night.

French civil aviation authorities confirmed that 28-year-old Sala “was on board the plane”.

A statement from police on Guernsey, a British island just off the coast of France, said the pilot had requested to lower his altitude shortly before air traffic control in neighbouring Jersey lost contact with the plane.

After a search was called off on Monday because of high winds, two helicopters, two planes and a lifeboat joined renewed efforts on Tuesday morning to find the single-propeller plane.

“So far over 1,000 square miles have been searched by a total of five aircraft and two lifeboats,” Guernsey police said at 1145 GMT.

“There has been no trace of the aircraft. The search is continuing.”

It is thought Sala was one of two passengers on board, but French civil aviation authorities were unable to confirm that.

Sala, who had been at Nantes since 2015 and had scored 13 goals in all competitions this season, had signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with relegation-threatened Cardiff subject to receiving international clearance.

Neither club has commented publicly on the disappearance, but Nantes have postponed their French Cup match against third-tier side Entente SSG on Wednesday as a mark of respect.

When he put pen to paper at Cardiff on Saturday, Sala, who also has Italian nationality, said in a statement: “I’m very happy to be here. It gives me great pleasure and I can’t wait to start training, meet my new team-mates and get down to work.

“For me it feels special (to be the club’s record signing). I have come here wanting to work and to help my team-mates and the club.”

Sala’s last post on Instagram showed him surrounded by players from Nantes. “La ultima ciao (the last goodbye),” he wrote.

Cardiff, who currently sit third from bottom of the English Premier League with 19 points, said they were “very concerned”.

“We are awaiting confirmation before we can say anything further. We are very concerned for the safety of Emiliano Sala,” the club said in a statement.

The accident, if confirmed, comes only three months after the Thai billionaire owner of Leicester City football club died in a helicopter crash that shocked the club and supporters around the world.

Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and four others died on October 28 shortly after taking off from the pitch of the club’s stadium in central England.

Disconnected cockpit pedals, which are used to control the rotor on the helicopter’s tail, were found to be the cause of the accident by investigators.

– ‘Likeable lad’ –

Sala began his footballing career at French club Bordeaux, who he joined in 2010, and spent loan spells at other French clubs including Orleans, Niort and Caen.

He joined Nantes in 2015 for one million euros and appeared to be peaking as a player in recent seasons, overcoming technical shortcomings that had held him back earlier in his career.

He was tipped for a move to Turkish giants Galatasaray last summer.

“He’s a very likeable lad, very hard working,” his coach at Nantes, Vahid Halilhodzic, said of him recently.

The cameras dotted around Melbourne Park, which show players walking the corridors and making their way to the courts, were introduced this year and are not seen at any other major.

Many of the candid clips have gone viral, with social media users amused when security guards asked high-profile players such as Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova for identification.

Others have been more personal, including Croatian 31st seed Petra Martic slumping to the floor and breaking down in tears after her third-round elimination.

Djokovic, who is chairman of the men’s player council, said he had privacy concerns, particularly for women players who were moving between the recovery centre and the locker rooms.

But the Serb said if that issue was fixed he had to reluctantly accept the intrusion.

“That’s the only thing I mind a little bit, you know. But other than that, you know, we live in Big Brother society. I guess you just have to accept it,” he said.

Federer said tennis stars were now used to having their every moment captured on camera, although he did not appreciate intrusions on his down time.

“Now it’s just like everywhere all the time. It’s hard to find the corner where you can actually sort of relax a bit, but I can deal with it. It’s no problem,” he said.

Serena Williams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou was a strong supporter of the cameras, saying showing the human side of players helped draw in a new generation of fans.

“If they root for a player or they hate a player, that’s great, because they feel emotion when they watch tennis,” he said.

“They need to know the players. All those behind the scenes (clips) that show the personalities of the players… it’s great to show they are human and they are not machines and they have emotions. They have good emotions, they have bad emotions.”

Mouratoglou said tennis was a conservative sport but needed to move with the times to stay relevant and appeal to fans.

Roger Federer’s conqueror had to contend with dropping his serve early in each of the first three sets to the 22nd seed before coming through 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/2) in 3hr 15min.

“It all feels like a fairytale almost,” said the 20-year-old after holding his head in his hands in disbelief and sinking to the floor on Rod Laver Arena.

“I’m just living the dream, living what I’ve been working hard for,” Tsitsipas added.

“I feel a bit emotional but not too much -– I know I really worked hard to get here, playing in semis of a Grand Slam.

“I was asked my goals this year and said semis Grand Slam. And when I was answering this question, I thought I was crazy. But it is real. It just happened.”

Tsitsipas, who broke through in 2018 with his first ATP Tour title and won the NextGen finals, will face either world number two Rafael Nadal or unseeded Frances Tiafoe for a place in the final.

For the 30-year-old Bautista Agut, who won the Doha warm-up event and was in his first quarter-final at this level, the wait for a maiden Grand Slam semi-final goes on.

After encountering the gifted Greek at close quarters for the first time he still tipped either Nadal or Novak Djokovic to lift the famous Norman Brookes trophy.

“He’s playing very good tennis. Of course, he has a lot of time to improve, a lot of time to get enough experience to be in the finals of these tournaments,” the Spanish world number 24 told reporters of Tsitsipas.

“But here I think Rafa and Novak are my favourites.”

– No panic –

Federer did not win any of 12 break points in a four-set defeat against 14th seed Tsitsipas in round four, but Bautista Agut managed it on his first in the opening game of the match.

There was no panic from the 20-year-old from Athens and he broke back before stealing the set 7-5 with a second break created by a rasping forehand winner that flat-footed the Spaniard.

Bautista Agut went 2-1 up in the second set with another early break as the Tsitsipas first serve momentarily deserted him.

This time the Spaniard stayed on top and levelled the match 6-4.

Another break for Bautista Agut came in the fifth game of the third set.

But with the crowd beginning to get more involved, Tsitsipas outlasted the Spaniard in a gruelling game to level at 4-4.

And when another break followed the Athenian artist had his nose back in front and the Spaniard could see the match slipping away.

“When I lost the third set, I knew I had to do really good effort to try to win the match,” said Bautista Agut.

“Well, I continue fighting till the end, but it was not enough.”

There were no early breaks in the fourth set as Tsitsipas, crucially serving first, began to find consistency on his first serve.

The gutsy Spaniard successfully served to stay in the match for the first time at 4-5.

He then showed incredible resilience at 5-6, 30-40 to repel a first match point after a 21-shot baseline rally.

But Tsitsipas jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the subsequent tiebreak and secured the match on the first of four more match points.

The event was held on Monday, 21 January at Gold’s Gym South Tokyo Annex with media and students in attendance to take part in the activities. Johnson, Alvarez, and Lee each gave a martial arts demonstration featuring their favorite techniques. It was followed up by a warm-up pad session and then by a Question & Answer portion.

Women’s mixed martial arts sensation “Unstoppable” Angela Lee is the reigning ONE Women’s Atomweight World Champion.

Lee made her professional mixed martial arts debut with ONE Championship in May 2015 and has since been on an absolute tear, railing off nine straight victories, seven of which have come by spectacular finishes. At ONE: A NEW ERA, set for 31 March at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Lee moves up a weight class to challenge ONE Women’s Strawweight World Champion “The Panda” Xiong Jing Nan for a chance to become a simultaneous two-division ONE World Champion.

Multiple-time mixed martial arts World Champion Eddie “The Underground King” Alvarez and pound-for-pound greatDemetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson are ready to make their highly-anticipated ONE Championship debuts.

Alvarez is a mixed martial arts legend who has competed for the world’s top mixed martial arts promotions. The experience he has gathered over a stellar 15-year professional career so far is beyond impressive, with wins over some of the biggest names in the sport. Alvarez’ most notable victories have come against the likes of Roger Huerta, Shinya Aoki, Gilbert Melendez, Anthony Pettis, Rafael Dos Anjos, and most recently Justin Gaethje. Recognized for his well-rounded skills and unwavering will to win, Alvarez will make his ONE Championship debut at ONE: A NEW ERA against Russia’s Timofey Nastyukhin.

Johnson, on the other hand, is a mixed martial artist considered one of the greatest of all time in the history of the sport. With a highly-technical style and world-class skills, Johnson has dominated his division for the past six years. During this span, Johnson captured the flyweight World Title and ran up a win streak of 13 bouts since 2012. Today, he is widely considered the best mixed martial artist in the world pound-for-pound. Johnson will make his ONE Championship debut at ONE: A NEW ERA against Japan’s Yuya “Little Piranha” Wakamatsu.

ONE: A NEW ERA is set for 31 March at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo. It is ONE Championship’s first ever live event in Japan and the most exciting card of the year. In the main event, reigning ONE Lightweight World Champion Eduard “Landslide” Folayang of the Philippines defends his title against Japanese martial arts legend Shinya “Tobikan Judan” Aoki.

And every 12 months as the first Grand Slam heralds a fresh season they come… and they go.

Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic’s stranglehold on the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup has been interrupted just twice since the Swiss master first lifted it in Melbourne in 2004.

Marat Safin (2005) and Stan Wawrinka (2014) managed to interlope into the trio’s private sanctum — and they were 25 and 28 years old respectively at the time, hardly fresh-faced youths.

But this year seems different.

The simple truth is the big three cannot halt Old Father Time and one day soon will retire from slugging it out around the world. We may have already seen the last of stricken Andy Murray.

So when young Stefanos Tsitsipas sent third seed Federer packing Sunday at the tender age of 20, after giant-killer Frances Tiafoe also reached the last eight, it seemed the tennis world may at last be shifting on its axis.

Frances Tiafoe of the US celebrates his victory against Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov.

– Fed’s not going away –

Trouble is, to do it at least one of them will need to find a way to stop the raging bull that is Nadal if they are to win a maiden Grand Slam with the American up first against the Spanish giant in a quarter-final on Tuesday.

Tiafoe — who at the age of 20 had already caused the shock of the first round in stunning fifth seed Kevin Anderson — registered a second notable scalp on his 21st birthday.

This time it was against Grigor Dimitrov, now 27, who was nicknamed “Baby Fed” in his early twenties and himself tipped as the next big thing.

But “Daddy Fed”, Roger himself, is tired of the constant chatter “about a changing of the old guard”.

“I’ve heard that story the last 10 years. From that standpoint, nothing new there,” Federer said.

And the great man signalled that, at the age of 37, he was not going away by announcing he would play on clay at the French Open this year for the first time since 2015.

– The next level –

Federer did concede that his young conqueror, the exciting Greek who appears to have all the gifts, was beginning to establish himself.

“About Stefanos, I think he’s definitely done a really nice job now the last year and a half,” said the 20-time Grand Slam champion.

“I mean before that, too, obviously. But beating Novak in Toronto, the likes of Anderson and (Alexander) Zverev, now me here. That’s what you need to do to get to the next level. He’s doing that.”

The popular Tiafoe plays with a smile on his face, a roar in his voice and has plenty of admirers too.

“It’s so nice to see somebody new, somebody fresh,” said Dimitrov.

“I mean, everybody in the locker room likes him, everybody is laughing. He’s going to be amazing. He can only get better from now on, for sure.”

But the Bulgarian, who has not yet fulfilled his own huge potential, sounded a cautionary note.

“I know how it is to break grounds on those first tournaments, especially a Slam,” he said.

“He really needs to just stay calm and make sure he follows the right path.

“I mean, one thing is to do well at one tournament, but another thing to do it progressively.”

Australia had the better of a goalless 120 minutes before the Brighton ‘keeper stopped spot-kicks from Islom Tukhtakhujaev and Marat Bikmaev in a tense last-16 shoot-out that the Aussies won 4-2.

Ryan stood up to Tukhtakhujaev’s penalty, which he drilled down the middle, and also guessed correctly when Bikmaev shot low and to his right to keep their title defence alive.

The 26-year-old Premier League stopper said he had studied Uzbekistan’s penalty-takers before the game — but he also claimed that his vital saves were just “luck”.

“I’m not a mind-reader. How would I possibly know?” he said, adding that he was happy to bask in a rare moment as the team’s hero.

“It feels pretty good. As a goalkeeper, it’s obviously the pinnacle for us. I’m just trying to enjoy the moment and all the sacrifices and hard work,” said Ryan.

However, Socceroos coach Graham Arnold said Ryan deserved his success after putting in extra work behind the scenes.

“That’s why he’s in the Premier League and that’s why he’s such a high-class goalkeeper,” said Arnold.

“His two saves in the penalty shoot-out showed what a top goalkeeper he is.

“Maty does a lot of homework himself and when Maty goes into a game he ticks all boxes and he did exceptionally well again tonight.”

– Determined Australia –

Uzbekistan were on top in the first half but they managed just one shot on target all match — Eldor Shomurodov’s one-on-one which was also instinctively stopped by Ryan.

Javokhir Sidikov fizzed one wide of the upright after Jaloliddin Masharipov all too easily evaded the joint challenge of Rhyan Grant and Awer Mabil.

But Australia seemed determined to mix it up after the break and as they finally clicked, Jamie Maclaren having a shot blocked before Grant twice missed opportunities with his head.

Hertha Berlin forward Mathew Leckie, back from a hamstring injury, was introduced for his first appearance of the tournament and had an immediate impact.

Leckie was part of a move that left Maclaren inches away from the opener, and then after dribbling into the box he was only denied by a smart stop from Ignatiy Nesterov.

Rogic’s sharp shot was turned around the post by Nesterov and after the two teams went into extra time, the influential Celtic man curled another one just past the upright.

However, neither side could get the winner and after Ryan saved Uzbekistan’s second and fourth penalties, it was left to Leckie to hammer in the decisive kick.

The only sour note for the holders was Rogic picking up a harsh yellow card in the first half which will rule him out of the quarter-final against either the host nation United Arab Emirates or Kyrgyzstan.

Sirisak Yodyadthai performs a Thai wai to Marcello Lippi after their game.

Sirisak is in the dark over his future with the national team after their Asian Cup journey ended on Sunday with a 2-1 defeat by China in Al Ain.

The 49-year-old stepped up from the role of assistant coach to take charge of the Thai team two weeks ago after Milovan Rajevac was sacked in the wake of the humiliating first-up 4-1 defeat by India.

Under his guidance Thailand’s spirits soared – they recovered to beat Bahrain 1-0 and then earned their last-16 place as group runners-up by drawing 1-1 draw with host nation the United Arab Emirates.

The War Elephants also did themselves proud in defeat, showing a more adventurous approach against China, going into the half-time break 1-0 up before the Marcello Lippi-coached Dragons struck back with two goals after the interval to book a quarter-final spot.

With only three games to prove himself, Sirisak did pretty well for someone with limited experience – his greatest claim to fame had been to coach Thai Honda from League 2 to Thai League in 2017.

And although the Thai FA appeared impressed by his work, there’s no guarantee he will be handed the job full-time.

“From now on, it depends on consideration from those in charge in the Thai FA. We will find out after we return to Thailand,” said Sirisak, who only has a coaching license, rather than a pro licence that coaches of national sides are required to have.

It takes hundreds of hours and many thousands of baht to enrol in the pro licence course but Somyot Poompanmoung, president of FAT, has publicly stated he will help Sirisak with an interest-free loan should he take the next step in his coaching career.

Meanwhile, Sirisak reckons that reaching the knockout stage was better than many expected following the dismal start that seemed sure to end Thailand’s campaign in the group stage.

“If you ask me if I’m satisfied with the outcome, I will say that it [reaching the knockouts] was a bonus for the players. I really believed we can compete with China. We just couldn’t hold on to the lead and lost two goals too easily,” added Sirisak.

“China changed their tactics in the second half by playing long balls and pushed us deep in the defence. We lost concentration and let them dictate.”

J-League star Chanathip Songkrasin is one player who backs Sirisak’s training and tactics.

“He is a good coach in my personal view – but I’m not in a position to say much as it depends on the Thai FA to decide. As for the Asian Cup, I feel so proud to have come this far and feel thankful for this valuable experience,” said the midfielder, who scored the winner against Bahrain.

Skipper Teerasil Dangda, 30, hopes to continue playing for Thailand and believes the team is good enough to reach the Asian Cup Finals again in four years’ time.

“After a year playing with Sanfrecce Hiroshima in J-League, I have changed my attitude and want to keep representing the country,” he said.

“With my age I’m not sure if I will still be picked in the next Asian Cup, but with the current team we have I believe we will be stronger then.”

In a towering performance, the American great scored her biggest win since giving birth to break down the Romanian top seed 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 and move into a quarter-final against seventh seed Karolina Pliskova.

Czech Pliskova is another form player, winning the warm-up Brisbane International and easing past two-time Grand Slam winner Garbine Muguruza 6-3, 6-1 to set up the Williams clash.

“I’m such a fighter, I never give up,” declared Williams after the epic encounter.

“It was an intense match and there were some incredible points but I love playing tennis and being out here and I love this court, it’s really cool to be back.”

While Williams stayed cool, highly-rated German fourth seed Zverev lost the plot against Canadian Milos Raonic, crashing 6-1, 6-1, 7-6 (7/5) and demolishing a racquet in a massive meltdown.

Women’s fourth seed Naomi Osaka was more composed as she beat crafty Latvian Anastasija in three sets to set up a meeting with ambitious Ukrainian Elina Svitolina for a place in the semi-finals.

But it was the dominant Williams who overshadowed them all and is overwhelming favourite to win an eighth Australian title, with defending champion Caroline Wozniacki and second seed Angelique Kerber already out.

She has been in ominous form at Melbourne Park as she seeks one more major title to put her alongside Margaret Court’s record 24, and it looked like French Open champion Halep would be another easy scalp after a first set rout.

But the nuggety Romanian isn’t world number one for nothing and she bounced back to set up a huge power struggle that Williams finally won with a break in the seventh game of the third set.

“I really needed to elevate my game. She’s a great player,” said Williams.

– Handled the pressure –

Fourth seed Osaka emerged from an error-strewn first set against Sevastova to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

“I think the biggest thing for me is the belief. I think I believe in myself more this year than I have last year,” said the bubbly 21-year-old, who beat Williams in the US Open final last year.

She next faces sixth seed Svitolina, who battled past American Madison Keys 6-2, 1-6, 6-1.

It will be a new experience for whoever wins that showdown, with neither going beyond the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park before.

Svitolina needed to dig deep to overcome 17th seeded Keys, a US Open finalist in 2017.

“I had to put my level up, I’m glad I handled the pressure,” said Svitolina, who scored her biggest career win at the WTA Finals in Singapore last October.

Svitolina was a quarter-finalist at Melbourne Park last year and has set her sights high after her breakthrough in Singapore, targeting a Grand Slam win and world number one.

Earlier on Rod Laver Arena, Zverev self-destructed to slump out at the hands of Raonic.

The German has routinely been anointed as the flag-bearer for the next generation, but again failed to live up to his reputation and has now missed out on making the last eight of a major 14 times in 15 attempts.

So furious was he with his form, the 21-year-old had a major temper tantrum in the second set, whacking his racquet into the ground eight times to leave it a crumpled mess.

“I just tried to stay composed and it worked out well for me today,” said cool 16th seed Raonic, who will now face Frenchman Lucas Pouille after he battled past Croat Borna Coric in four tough sets.

Six-time champion Novak Djokovic, who was taken to four sets by teenage Canadian Denis Shapovalov in the third round, plays later against another young gun in Russia’s Medvedev, seeded 15.

The winner will have a quarter-final against Japan’s eighth seed Kei Nishikori or Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta.

The German fourth seed erupted in frustration and fury during the second set of a 6-1, 6-1, 7-6 (7/5) drubbing by hammering his racquet into the ground eight times to leave it a mangled mess.

“I have sort of faced that situation, and I was also ahead at that point, so I was just really focusing on myself,” Raonic told reporters.

“I wasn’t really thinking too much about him on his end. So it didn’t really have too much of an effect. I just tried to stay composed.”

Zverev was tipped as a future Grand Slam champion after a breakthrough 2018 that saw him win the ATP Tour Finals, beating Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer in the process.

Instead it was a familiar tale of woe as his much vaunted-talent deserted him again before he could reach the sharp end of a major.

The 21-year-old’s miserable slump in Slams means he has made it to just one quarter-final, at the French Open last year, in 15 appearances.

All seemed well when Zverev broke former world number three Raonic’s formidable serve in the opening game.

“I was glad I turned around that start quickly,” said Raonic. “I gave myself a lot of curse words after the first game.”

Zverev looked like a beginner as he threw away the next nine games with a succession of errors.

The world number four committed eight double faults and 16 unforced errors against only eight winners as the first two sets evaporated in 63 minutes.

When he dropped his serve to go 4-1 behind in the second set his seething anger was taken out on his unfortunate racquet, earning a code violation from umpire Carlos Ramos.

“I think I was up 4-1 at that point in the second set. I heard it,” said Raonic. “I don’t think I looked over. I think it was pretty clear what was going on.”

Zverev said the outburst got rid of his pent-up frustration.

“Yeah, it made me feel better. I was very angry, so I let my anger out,” Zverev told reporters.

Zverev left the court for a toilet break at the end of the set and was more competitive when he returned.

He stopped the flood of mistakes and took the third set to a tiebreak, saving two match points along the way.

But it was too little, too late as Zverev’s abject record in Slams continued.

Instead Raonic, who lost to Andy Murray in the last four in Melbourne in 2016, moves on to face Borna Coric or Lucas Pouille in the quarter-finals.