Thailand team was tricked by opponents before the key match in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers

Accordingly, Turkmenistan confirmed that they will host the match with Thailand on artificial turf. This is Ashgabat Stadium in the capital of Turkmenistan. This stadium has a capacity of 20,000 seats, not the largest football stadium in Turkmenistan. The difference of Ashgabat is that it owns an artificial turf.

Turkmenistan's move was clearly intended to cause difficulties for Thailand when the Southeast Asian opponent clearly revealed its weakness in adapting to artificial turf in the match against the Philippines in the first leg of the ASEAN Cup 2024 semi-finals. At that time, Supachok, Suphanat... were helpless and accepted a 1-2 defeat, causing Thailand to receive its first loss after more than 5 decades of facing the Philippines.

Turkmenistan do not normally play in Ashgabat. Their home ground is the 45,000-capacity National Stadium in the capital. In their last outing, Turkmenistan played against Hong Kong China at this venue and drew 0-0.

Thailand team was tricked by opponents before the key match in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers photo 2

Thailand have had a tough time playing on artificial turf in the capital Manila.

When facing a stronger opponent, they chose Ashgabat Stadium as their venue. With artificial turf, which is hard and difficult to handle, Turkmenistan caused many difficulties for Iran and Uzbekistan in the second round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. The Central Asian team wants to maintain that plan against Thailand, the main rival in the race for the only ticket to the 2027 Asian Cup.

Not only in terms of the field, coach Ishii and his team also faced difficulties in terms of personnel. They lost a series of quality options for various reasons. Khemdee, Supachok, Sasalak, Suphanat and Gustavsson were absent due to injuries, Mickelson had to withdraw for personal reasons. In addition, the fact that familiar names such as Sarach Yooyen, Kritsada Kaman or Bordin Phala were not called up made Thailand visibly weaker. In the current call-up, many members have not played a single match for the Thai team.

Dang Lai

Source: https://tienphong.vn/tuyen-thai-lan-bi-doi-thu-choi-chieu-truoc-tran-dau-then-chot-o-vong-loai-asian-cup-2027-post1748138.tpo