Gritty Chaba Kaew face Japan in quarters

Gritty Chaba Kaew face Japan in quarters

Thailand’s Nipawan Panyosuk, No.8, celebrates with teammates after scoring against Australia.
Thailand’s Nipawan Panyosuk, No.8, celebrates with teammates after scoring against Australia.

Thailand will face Japan in the quarter-finals of the AFC Women's Asian Cup tomorrow despite finishing third in Group B after losing 2-1 to Australia in India on Thursday.

The Chaba Kaew booked a last-eight spot as one of the two best third-placed sides of three groups.

Emily van Egmond opened the scoring for Australia in the 39th minute and Sam Kerr came off the bench to score in the 80th minute before Nipawan Panyosuk netted a memorable goal in Mumbai.

Title favourites Australia face South Korea in the quarter-finals.

Australia coach Tony Gustavsson made wholesale changes to the side that beat the Philippines 4-0 on Monday.

A starting line-up filled with youngsters had the same dominance of possession enjoyed by the Matildas in their previous two matches.

Thailand's Japanese coach Miyo Okamoto said her team were ready to face her native country.

"The next game against Japan, we will prepare the team the same way we prepared earlier and play like we played before," Okamoto said.

"For the game against Australia, we talked earlier that our defence must be good and we must not give up. We wanted to concede as fewer goals as possible to advance to the next round and we did it.

"The goal [by Napawan] was a result of our hard work. It also brings back our team spirit and confidence. It makes us ready for the game against Japan."

The top five teams from the Women's Asian Cup plus Australia earn places at the 2023 Fifa Women's World Cup to be held in Australia and New Zealand.

Also, two teams from the India tournament enter a 10-team play-off tournament for three finals spots.

Thailand are looking for their third straight World Cup appearance.

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