2018 World Cup qualifying: Thailand prepared to ‘fight hard’ to shock the UAE

The UAE will take on Thailand at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium on Thursday, kick-off is at 8pm. Tom Dulat / Getty Images

ABU DHABI // Thailand can use the fact they feel no pressure ahead of Thursday’s 2018 World Cup qualifier against the UAE to glean a positive result from the tie, according to goalkeeper Sinthaweechai Hathairattanakool.

The Southeast Asians, ranked 135th in the world by Fifa, face the UAE at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium on Matchday 3 of Group B, with many expecting the hosts to collect the points.

Thailand failed to register a point from their opening two fixtures last month, although they held Saudi Arabia in Riyadh before losing 1-0 to a late penalty. Five days later, they were beaten 2-0 at home by Japan.

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However, the current Asean champions have taken significant belief from the narrow defeat in Saudi. They are hoping to catch the UAE on a bad night, especially since Mahdi Ali’s men are expected to bounce back from last month’s 1-0 loss to Australia.

Thailand, who have never before qualified for the World Cup, complete the double-header against Iraq at home next Tuesday.

“Of course, we’re not playing with any pressure, that’s one of the strong points of our team,” Sinthaweechai said. “The two previous results don’t put pressure on us. It shows us we need to improve and we need to do better. Our players are enthusiastic about this game.

“The UAE are a very strong team, have very good tactical knowledge and their players are also strong individually, so we have to fight hard, to try hard.”

Thailand’s preparations have gone well, with the team based in the UAE since September 26. They have not contested this stage of qualification — the third and final phase — since 2001, but are sure they can prove their recent progress is no fluke.

“This is our third match in the group and we may have yet to get a point, but we showed a really good performance against Saudi,” manager Kiatisuk Senamuang said. “Even the head coach of the UAE said he thought the result should have been different.

“Japan and Australia were one of the first to qualify for this round, but the UAE also showed they are contenders. Thailand are a very young team, we have young power. We will go onto the pitch with confidence and will try our best to show a good performance. We’ll try to get good results against the UAE and Iraq so we can maintain our hopes.”

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