Thailand 'creates confusion' before match against Vietnam

Similar to the Vietnamese team, Thailand attaches great importance to the friendly tournament organized by VFF during the FIFA Days in September. According to the schedule, the Golden Temple team will meet Russia on September 7, then have a highly anticipated match against host Vietnam on September 10 at My Dinh Stadium.

Speaking to the press, coach Masatada Ishii emphasized that the biggest goal of the Thai team in the two matches above, especially the match against rival Vietnam, is only to test the players' form and experiment with new elements.

“Russia and Vietnam are good opponents, but Thailand needs to focus on themselves. I try to make the players understand the tactics and show their best potential. I want to test the players' form, test the young players. Thailand does not set a target for results in this tournament,”Japanese strategist said.

“The two opponents of the Thai team, Vietnam and Russia, are very strong and challenging. It is not easy to get a good result against them. However, the Thai team will bring to Vietnam a team with many young players to face these two tough opponents.”The captain of the Thai team confirmed.

That said, according to the Thai press, coach Masatada Ishii has basically made a list of the strongest squad to gather the national team. Most of the players playing abroad have been called back to prepare for the tournament in Vietnam.

In particular, recently, coach Masatada Ishii has paid special attention to the injury of captain Theerathon Bunmathan. This player was absent in the match where Buriram lost 1-2 to CAHN, within the framework of the first match of the 2024/25 Southeast Asian Club Cup.

In fact, coach Masatada Ishii may still call up young players, but may only use them in the match against Russia to learn and compete. The friendly match with Vietnam is expected to be more tense as both teams are always considered fierce rivals in the region.

The Thai team did not care about the result of the match against Russia, but when meeting the Vietnamese team, they expected to win right at the red team's home ground. In the past, even in friendly matches, Thailand has never underestimated the number 1 opponent in the region.

Therefore, this team has only lost one match against the "Golden Star Warriors" at the King's Cup 2019. In official tournaments, Thailand has never lost to the Vietnamese team, even when Vietnamese football was at its peak under the leadership of coach Park Hang-seo.

The upcoming match against Vietnam will help Thailand prepare for the 2024 AFF Cup, and only a victory will help the Golden Temple team confidently defend their championship title. If they lose to Vietnam, coach Masatada Ishii's team could lose a lot.

For his part, of course, coach Kim Sang-sik and the students in the Vietnamese team also have the ambition to defeat Thailand. This is an honorable match, helping Quang Hai and his teammates regain confidence and position in the regional football village after more than a year of bad results under coach Troussier.