Thailand coach Masatada Ishii hailed the quality of his players as the War Elephants held Saudi Arabia to a goalless draw in their final Group F game at the AFC Asian Cup in Qatar on Thursday.
Ishii rotated his starting 11 in the match against Saudi Arabia and the players did just enough as the War Elephants qualified for the last 16 in second place with five points. Saudi Arabia won the group with seven points.
Thailand will face Uzbekistan, runners-up from Group B, next Tuesday at the Al Janoub Stadium. Saudi Arabia will play South Korea, who finished second in Group E, on the same day at the Education City Stadium.
Thursday's lively draw -- marked by four disallowed goals and a saved penalty -- saw Ishii's team one of just two sides yet to concede in Qatar, the hosts being the other.
"From what I've seen during training, I know the players' qualities and believed that they could do the job in today's match," said Ishii.
"Also, our preparation goes beyond the Asian Cup. We also have to think about the World Cup qualifiers and that's why we need to plan for long term," added the Japanese coach.
As for the prospect of facing Uzbekistan in the last 16, Ishii said the players and coaching staff have a lot of homework to do before Tuesday's game.
Goalkeeper Saranon Anuin, who saved a first-half penalty against Saudi Arabia, was named man of the match on his debut with the national team.
"I am very happy that everyone helped each other during this game. We tried to concentrate on the match and support each other till we got the point.
"Everyone in the team is feeling confident right now. We will try to make Thai fans proud and we will try to win every match," he added.
Meanwhile team manager Nualphan Lamsam congratulated the players and coaching staff for their brave effort against the Saudis.
"I am sure that this match made Thai people very happy because we drew against Saudi Arabia, the team that have a higher ranking than us," said Nualphan.
"We changed the starting eleven players and everyone showed his potential. They tried hard to prove themselves until we got a good result."
Thailand and Saudi Arabia had already booked their place in the last 16, but Group F top spot was still up for grabs when they kicked off at the Education City Stadium on Thursday.
Saudi Arabia were awarded an early penalty for a trip in the box. But Abdullah Radif's tame effort was saved by Saranon. After that both sides had the ball in the net within two minutes of each other, but both were disallowed for offside.
Thailand added a third disallowed goal before half-time, and the Saudis added a fourth after it.
In the 64th minute, Saudi Arabia coach Roberto Mancini made a triple substitution which included the introduction of 16-year-old Talal Haji.
The Al-Ittihad forward displayed industry up front but lacked the cutting edge.
As the game wore on, Saudi Arabia created plenty of chances but always found a Thai defender in the way.
In the other Group F match, Oman drew 1-1 with Kyrgyzstan and finished third. Both sides were eliminated.
In Group E, Son Heung-Min's South Korea were unconvincing once more as they conceded a 105th-minute equaliser in a madcap 3-3 draw with minnows Malaysia, whose competition was already over going into the game.
Juergen Klinsmann's side finished runners-up in the group behind Bahrain, who topped the group after defeating a weakened Jordan 1-0.
Despite the defeat, Jordan went through as one of the four best third-placed finishers as did Syria, Palestine and Indonesia. bangkok post/agencies