FAT announced that the Thai team will play a friendly match with Afghanistan on March 21, before officially entering the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers. Afghanistan is ranked 156th in the world , with a moderate level of expertise, suitable to be a friendly opponent of the Thai team for many different reasons.
Thailand is in dire need of a win to dispel the gloomy atmosphere after two consecutive defeats against the Vietnamese team in the AFF Cup 2024 final. In particular, the bitter defeat at Rajamangala was not in the Thai people's plans. Few fans thought that the Golden Temple team would be made difficult by the Vietnamese team right on their own field.
The Thai team cannot forget the defeat against Vietnam.
The match between Thailand and Afghanistan will also take place at the Rajamangala National Stadium. Four days later, coach Ishii Masatada's team will face Sri Lanka in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers. Of course, the Japanese coach will be able to call up all the best players in Thai football. Both the friendly match and the qualifier are official friendlies during the FIFA Days period.
In addition to Sri Lanka, the Thai team is also in the same group with Turkmenistan and Chinese Taipei. These teams are weak and not really worthy opponents of the Thai team.
Meanwhile, the Vietnamese team will face Malaysia, Nepal and Laos in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers (taking place according to the FIFA international competition schedule from March 2025 to March 2026). Being in the No. 1 seed group and not having to face teams in the world's top 100, the Vietnamese team will also avoid some strong teams in the remaining groups. All 3 opponents in the group are outside the world's top 130.
The 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers have 24 teams participating. These are the teams that did not pass the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia. The teams compete in a round-robin format (home and away) to calculate ranking points. Only the top teams qualify for the Asian Cup finals in Saudi Arabia.
Source: https://vtcnews.vn/xac-dinh-doi-thu-dau-tien-cua-tuyen-thai-lan-sau-that-bai-truoc-viet-nam-ar921169.html
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