On Monday the Lao Embassy in Bangkok asked for a postponement of the screening of the film, which was originally scheduled for tomorrow. The story is about the Lao national football team beating Thailand and amazingly qualifying for the World Cup. Produced by Thais and with all the characters played by Thais, the movie is simply a humorous take on Thai football.

One thing that has many Thai people baffled about the complaints from their northern neighbours is that the film is a funny story with Thailand's national team being defeated by underdogs Laos, but Lao people are very unhappy about the film even though their team ends up the winners. - The Nation.

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'Casanova' fails to impress

The Thai football team's striker Teerathep "Leesaw" Winothai has added to his reputation as the "Casanova" of the sports world again. The talented youngster was invited to be a special guest on the TOT World Cup Reporter Contest. The event drew many participants, including a female university student who studies at the faculty of Communication Arts. The two were introduced and Leesaw was his usual friendly self.

They happened to run into each other at the end of the contest and the player rushed up to talk to her. He told her that he was going to study in her faculty next year. She quickly told him that she would have already graduated by the time he was enrolled. "Casanova's" response was "just kidding". The girl was left wondering if he was really joking, or perhaps he was just disappointed that she was not another groupie. - The Nation.

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The world's luckiest football fan

When the World Cup kicks off, there is one man that every Thai will be jealous of. His name is Viroj Sukcharoenpornkul and he will be at every World Cup for the next 16 years. The 48-year-old from Saraburi took part in the "Coke ... Cheer Up for Life" promotion by sending in coke labels. One of his labels hit the big prize and he won a one-in-a-lifetime chance to watch the next five World Cups, starting this year in Germany.

"It's just a dream come true. I'm very glad to win the prize," he said. "It seems as if I were the luckiest man in the world, having a chance to watch the World Cup finals five times. It's the most valuable prize for a die-hard fan like me," he said. "I think everybody must envy me." - The Nation.

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Volleyball coach sidelined

Head coach Sutthichai Chanbunchee will lead the Thai women's volleyball team to this month's Asian Women's Club Championship in Manila, but assistant coach Anusorn Bundit cannot accompany the team this time as his wife is pregnant. "Anusorn always gives me a helping hand in training our girls. It's a tough job taking care of those girls," said Sutthichai. "However, he could not make the trip to Manila this time.

"He just told me that he badly wanted to join the team, but at the same time he did not want to. It's funny to say so, right? He meant that he wanted to join the team and help me take care of the Thai squad again, but he also did not want to leave his wife alone. Recently he called me in a happy mood, saying that his wife is due to give birth at the end of this month. Good news! I'm gonna be an uncle now." - The Nation.

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Chaiwat's a cool character

With his serious looks and stocky body, the Tiew Pai Ngarm team's Chaiwat Kedam surprises many - the basketball player was the most polite team member at the recent King's Cup Division A Tournament. In the men's semi-finals between Tiew Pai Ngarm and Bangkok Bank, fans inside the Hua Mark Indoor Stadium heard a big round of jeers from the Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) fans every time the strongly-built Chaiwat had the ball.

The RTAF fans, who wanted their team to defeat Tiew Pai Ngarm, just wanted to tease him as they cheered for the bank side. But however hard they tried to jeer and tease him, they could not upset the centre. Chaiwat reacted with friendly smiles. Playing cool under pressure, he never let the jeers bother him and helped his team beat the bankers. - The Nation.