Thailand coach Masatada Ishii said his team are ready for the Asian Cup challenge despite missing some of their best players for the continental tournament.
The War Elephants, who flew off to Qatar last night, have been drawn to play Saudi Arabia, Kyrgyzstan and Oman in Group F for the event, which kicks off on Friday.
The team will start off with a match against Kyrgyzstan next Tuesday. They will next play Oman on Jan 21 and take on former champions Saudi Arabia four days later.
Thailand will be without playmaker Chanathip Songkrasin and veteran forward Teerasil Dangda, who are both injured, in Qatar while J-League based midfielder Ekanit Panya had pulled out of the national team last week.
Despite missing some of the key players for the tournament, Ishii said his team, which drew 4-4 with the U23 team in a warm-up on Wednesday, are fully ready for the tournament.
"We are now ready for the tournament. We have been training very hard for the past 3-4 days. When we are in Qatar, we will let the players adapt themselves to the weather and the environment there," said Ishii.
"For the first game [against Kyrgyzstan], it will be difficult for the team but we will try to do our best in this competition. Our goal in the Asian Cup is to go as far as possible.
"Of course, it is really sad not having Teerasil [Dangda] and Chanathip [Songkrasin] who are both injured with us in Qatar. However, it is a great chance for the 26 players to prove themselves in this tournament," he added.
Although Teerasil and Chanathip are absent, Thailand's challenge will be led by the likes of Supachok Sarachart, who currently plays for J1 League side Consadole Sapporo, and his brother Suphanat Mueanta, who plays for OH Leuven in the top Belgian league.
Thailand team manager Nualphan Lamsam added, "Although we did not have much time to train before the tournament, the coach made all the players train very hard.
"Of course the three teams in the group all have a higher world ranking than Thailand -- Kyrgyzstan No.98, Oman No.74 and Saudi Arabia No.56 -- while we are No.113.
"However we hope to pick up 4-6 points from the three group matches and try to become the third-best team from six groups to qualify for the last 16.
"It doesn't matter that we don't have Teerasil and Chanathip in the team but other players are ready for the first match with Kyrgyzstan and we have to win that match," she added.
Qatar v Lebanon opener
The tournament kicks off with defending champions and hosts Qatar taking on Lebanon in Group A on Friday but preparations have been far from ideal for both teams after they appointed new coaches barely a month before the tournament.
Qatar appointed 'Tintin' Marquez Lopez last month after Carlos Queiroz parted company with them while Lebanon hired former Montenegro coach Miodrag Radulovic to replace Croatian Nikola Jurcevic.
However, both coaches are not strangers to the two squads. Lopez coached Qatari side Al-Wakrah for five years while this is Radulovic's second stint with Lebanon.
"It's a challenge, in such a short time. I started training the squad on Dec 24," Lopez told reporters yesterday ahead of the tournament opener at Lusail Stadium.
"I love working under pressure and stress, I'm 62 so pressure and stress doesn't affect me much. I love the challenge!"
Radulovic oversaw Lebanon's 2019 Asian Cup campaign where they were knocked out in the group stage.
"We had a short time for preparation, but I know this group very well, I believe in our potential and talent," he said. Bangkok Post/Reuters