The War Elephants arrived in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) capital city of Abu Dhabi early Sunday to renew their appearance in the AFC Asian Cup finals after a lapse of 12 years.
The competition will begin Saturday, with the championship match on Feb 1.
They are scheduled to play a warm-up match with Oman behind closed doors at the Abu Dhabi Cricket Stadium at 7pm (Thailand time) on Wednesday.
Thailand have been drawn in Group A along with India, Bahrain and the host country. They start their campaign for a place in the knockout second phase against India on Sunday, before taking on Bahrain on Jan 10 and the UAE on Jan 14.
The top two teams in each of six groups and four best third-placed teams will advance to the knockout last 16 stage.
Before the team's departure from Suvarnabhumi airport on Saturday night, Thailand head coach Milovan Rajevac said only the best would help Thailand in realising their goal of reaching the last 16 stage of the Asian championship.
"We know very well that we will be facing some challenging times in the UAE and it won't be an easy tournament for the team," said the Serbian coach. "Every player must find the motivation to do his best for the country.
"We [the staff coaches and the players] are determined to put on a good show to make the Thai people proud.
"We haven't set a target as to how many points we want to earn from the group stage matches, but we are aiming to win all matches and secure our place in the second round.
"The hosts UAE will of course be our toughest opponents in the group stage. They have lots of advantages on us, almost in every department of the game."
Here is a brief video preview of the tournament from the AFC press office.
The Thai skipper Teerasil Dangda was officially released Sunday after a successful one-year tour with J-League club Sanfrecce Hiroshima. He is expected to return to the Thai Premier League after the Asian Cup.
Teerasil said the first game against India will be the "key" clash.
"The opening group match will be the most important one for us," said Teerasil.
"The game against India will set the tone for the rest of the tournament and will be key to our success in the event.
"A bad result could affect the players' confidence and easily put us in the wrong state of mind.
"As the coach said, it will not be an easy tournament for us, but we are convinced that every member of the team is eager to help us qualify for the second round."
Members of the Thai national football team upon arrival in Abu Dhabi Sunday. (Photo provided)
The War Elephants had a training session in Abu Dhabi Sunday night.
Rajevac, accompanied by some top Football Association of Thailand officials, yesterday inspected the Thai team's training at the Pitch 2 of the Abu Dhabi Cricket Stadium.
The 64-year-old later told the media that he was happy with the training facility.
The visiting officials also expressed their satisfaction with the venue, which will serve as the main training site for the team for the next two days.
Rajevac and the FAT officials claimed that the venue provided "good privacy" for the team's training sessions and ground surface was also in "good condition".
Thailand last appeared in the finals of the Asian Cup when they co-hosted the 2007 edition with Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam. They were eliminated in the first round.