Thai League 1 title-holders Buriram United are banking on home advantage in a key battle with Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur City in their last match of Group B of the Asean Club Championship or Shopee Cup on Thursday night.
While group leaders Cong An Hanoi of Vietnam are already assured of a place in the semi-finals, the Thunder Castle need a victory to guarantee themselves a place in the last four.
If Buriram, who have seven points and sit one point above their opponents, win the game with Kuala Lumpur City, which kicks off at 7.30pm, they will be assured of a semi-final spot.
The Malaysian club are tied on six points with Indonesia's Borneo FC Samarinda and a favourable result in Buri Ram may not be enough to carry them to the next phase on its own.
Buriram United head coach Osmar Loss Vieira is hoping that his men would take the advantage of playing at home.
"We wanted to qualify for the semi-finals in the previous game, but we dropped some crucial points early on in the tournament, which has made this game a must-win affair for us," Viera told a pre-match press conference on Wednesday.
"Our team have many matches to play and our coaching staff tries to look after the players well-being as there are many players who are at risk of injury. We don't want to let that happen.
"We have to get the players physically ready as our target for our team is to reach the final if possible.
"It is very advantageous that this game is taking place at home because we always have confidence playing at Chang Arena although we lost our previous Thai League 1 match [to Port 1-0].
"We also want to win back the confidence of our fans by winning this match, so I would like our fans to come and cheer us. We feel really sad after the loss to Port. We will try our very best to win this game for our fans."
It's like 'a final match'
Buriram captain Naruebodin Weerawatnodom said: "We have a tight schedule but we are a big team and have strength in depth, so our coach can choose players for each match, enabling him to rotate the players.
"We are taking this game as a final because we want to claim those three points that will guarantee our qualification to the next round," he added.
In the other two matches of the same group, Kaya FC from the Philippines will face Singapore's Lion City Sailors and Cong An Hanoi will open their home ground to welcome Indonesia's Borneo FC Samarinda.