Thailand national football team landed in Ashgabat yesterday to play their second Group D game of the AFC Asian Cup qualifying tournament against Turkmenistan.
The War Elephants, who defeated Sri Lanka in their first group match, are fresh from a 2-0 victory over India in a Fifa Day friendly in Bangkok on Wednesday night. They play Turkmenistan on Tuesday night.
Before their departure, Thailand head coach Masatada Ishii said: "We have only three days to train and get used to the artificial pitch here. I hope that every player will adapt well to the conditions here."
The Japanese tactician added: "Turkmenistan have changed their head coach. They have good speed in attacking and their defence is solid as well.
"Right now, we don't have any injury worries, so we just have to train well for the match and try to put on a better show.
"I cannot say much about our chances in this game because we will be playing on an artificial pitch and our players are not used to it.
"Whatever the case, we used the India match to prepare for this game, so we will be gunning for three points from this trip."
Thailand, who are captained by crafty playmaker Chanathip Songkrasin, are in Group D of the qualifying tournament for the 2027 finals in Saudi Arabia. The two other teams in the pool are Sri Lanka, whom the War Elephants have already beaten 1-0, and Taiwan.
The winners of the six groups will join the 18 countries who have already qualified for the finals in Saudi Arabia.
The match will kick off at 10pm (Thai time) and will be broadcast live by Thai Rath TV (32), BG Sports Youtube channel and True Visions Now.