War Elephants set for Sri Lanka fight Tuesday night

Thailand begin their campaign for a spot in the finals of the 2027 Asian Cup with the opening match against Sri Lanka Tuesday night at Bangkok’s Rajamangala National Stadium.

Thailand warmed up with a 2-0 victory over Afghanistan also at the venue on Friday night.

Thailand coach Masatada Ishii said at a pre-match press conference yesterday he intends to stick with the same line-up that defeated Afghanistan.

Ishii said: “We are in a situation that if we want to qualify for the Asian Cup finals in Saudi Arabia, then we’re going to have to win the group.

So from the short training that we have had and the match against Afghanistan I can say we are ready for the match against Sri Lanka.

“In the Afghanistan match, all the players performed well, so I don’t have a reason to change the starting line-up in the qualifying match.

“We have observed the recordings of the match played between Sri Lanka and Laos but do not know of how Sri Lankan team would play against us.

“I believe that Sri Lanka will play an aggressive, attacking type of game so we have to really focus a lot on our game.

“We have had less time to prepare the team but we feel ready for the match.

“The aim is to take all three points from the first match as that will set us up well for the rest of the qualifying tournament.

“It is important for us to not concede goals and be clinical in front of our opponents’ goal as only the group champions get to the finals.

The contest between the Thais and the Sri Lankans will begin on the Rajamangala National Stadium at 7.30pm Tuesday evening.

The Group D alongside Turkmenistan and Taiwan includes the War Elephants and Sri Lanka. A total of 24 teams are competing for six slots for Saudi Arabia 2027.

Live on Thai Rath TV (32) and the BG Sports YouTube channel.