Impressive feat of Thailand team in the group stage of Asian Cup 2023

The Thai team continued to impress at the 2023 Asian Cup when they held Saudi Arabia to a 0-0 draw in the final round of Group F, despite fielding a reserve squad with 11 changes compared to the first two matches.

Thailand's squad for the 2023 Asian Cup. (Source: AFC)

This result helped coach Masatada Ishii's team confidently advance to the round of 16 as second in the group.

This is also the second consecutive time and the third time in history (1972, 2019 and 2023) that the Golden Temple team has passed the group stage of the continental tournament, but the achievement at the 2023 Asian Cup is more impressive.

Thailand are unbeaten in the group with one win and two draws, earning five points and finishing second in Group F. They beat Kyrgyzstan 2-0, then drew with Oman and Saudi Arabia with the same score of 0-0.

In the history of the tournament, no team in Southeast Asia has ever gone through the group stage unbeaten like Thailand.

The feat of the Thai team became even more impressive when they, along with the host team Qatar, were one of two teams that did not concede any goals in the group stage of the 2023 Asian Cup.

This result will certainly be a great motivation for the Thai team to aim for the round of 16 and will have to face the challenge of Uzbekistan.

The match between Thailand and Uzbekistan will take place at 6:30 p.m. on January 30 at Al Yanub Stadium in Doha, Qatar.

Speaking after the draw with Saudi Arabia, Thailand's head coach Masatada Ishii said the reason he changed the entire starting lineup as well as the goal that the Thai team is aiming for.

Coach Masatada Ishii said: "We have been training together for more than a month and I know the quality of my players. Therefore, I am confident and brave enough to field a completely different lineup compared to the previous two matches."

The Japanese "captain" also gave the reason: "We always prepare for many different tournaments, not just the Asian Cup. The Thai team needs to be ready for the World Cup qualifying stage as well. The whole team needs to pay attention to the long-term preparation process and further goals."

When talking about the upcoming match against Uzbekistan, Mr. Masatada Ishii said: "The Thai team will meet Uzbekistan in the next round. However, we are not thinking about that match yet. We only calculate for each match and the whole team needs to prepare the best to be ready for the next match."

Along with the Thai team, another representative of Southeast Asia, Indonesia, also squeezed through a narrow gap to gain the right to enter the round of 16 of the 2023 Asian Cup.

Indonesia secured the final spot as one of the four best third-placed teams after Oman were held to a 1-1 draw by Kyrgyzstan following a late mistake.

Thus, the 16 teams participating in the round of 16 include Qatar, Tajikistan (group A), Australia, Uzbekistan, Syria (group B), Iran, UAE, Palestine (group C), Iraq, Japan, Indonesia (group D), Bahrain, South Korea, Jordan (group E), Saudi Arabia and Thailand (group F).

With the participation of most of the strong teams, the round of 16 of the 2023 Asian Cup (taking place from January 28-31) promises to be very attractive and dramatic.

The opening match for the knockout round is the match between Indonesia and Australia at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium at 6:30 p.m. on January 28.

The final match of the round of 16 will be the confrontation between Iran and Syria at 11pm on January 31 at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium.

Also in this round, the main focus is on the competition between two candidates for the championship, Saudi Arabia and South Korea. Both teams passed the group stage with an unbeaten record.

( according to Vietnam+ )

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/ky-tich-an-tuong-cua-doi-tuyen-thai-lan-tai-vong-bang-asian-cup-2023-258826.html