The Football Association of Thailand (FAT) has appointed former Thailand international Anurak Srikerd as the interim head coach of the Thai national men's teams.
Akira Nishino, who is the official head coach of the War Elephants, returned to Japan to take care of some "personal business" after the Thais finished fourth in their group and failed to reach the final stage of the Asian qualifiers for the 2022 Fifa World Cup.
While Nishino has apparently missed the deadline to submit his report on the Thai failure in the United Arab Emirates, the FAT has yet to confirm if the veteran Japanese coach has been relieved of his duties.
The FAT said Anurak has been appointed to continue the work needed to prepare the Thai squads for participation in the 2022 AFC U23 Championship, the AFC Asian Cup 2023 qualifiers in October, the AFF Suzuki Cup and this year's SEA Games.
Anurak will work with Issara Sritaro, who will serve as his assistant, and they will soon start observing the Thai players in different competitions, including the AFC Champions League group stages which are now underway.
Anurak is currently the assistant coach to Nishino.
Ratchaburi eye three points
Ratchaburi, desperate to resurrect their campaign, take on the Malaysian Super League winners Johor Darul Ta'zim in their second Group G match of the AFC Champions League today.
Both teams lost their opening matches with Johor going down 1-0 to Nagoya Grampus from Japan and Ratchaburi losing 2-0 to South Korea's Pohang Steelers.
Ratchaburi head coach Sakesan Siripong admitted after the loss to Pohang Steelers that losing Philip Rollers to Port had left his team "weak at the back.
"But we have to look forward to the next match with Johor Darul Ta'zim.
"This Malaysian team is strong. They have several Malaysian international players.
"Although we both lost our first matches, as the host nation, we have to try to pick up three points out from this game."
Ratchaburi are currently last in Group G without any point.
The match between Ratchaburi and Johor Darul Ta'zim will kick off at 9pm while Pohang Steelers will play Nagoya Grampus at 5pm.