After a long flight to Ashgabat, the War Elephants went straight to the training venue on Saturday in the hope of getting used to the artificial surface on which they will be playing Turkmenistan Tuesday night.
Thailand national football team landed in Ashgabat on Saturday to play their second Group D game of the AFC Asian Cup qualifying tournament against the hosts.
The War Elephants have three points from a victory over Sri Lanka in their first group match. They also carded a 2-0 win over India in a Fifa Day friendly in Bangkok on Wednesday night.
The other team in Group D of the qualifying tournament for the 2027 finals in Saudi Arabia are Taiwan.
The winners of the six groups will join the 18 countries who have already qualified for the finals in Saudi Arabia.
Thailand wing-back Airfan Doloh said: "The pitch won't be an easy one to handle for us. It is pretty difficult of build momentum on such surfaces because you need more touches to control the ball."
Muang Thong United midfielder Kakana Khamyok said: "Playing on an artificial turf is quite difficult because the surface and grass both quite hard.
"The main thing for us is not to underestimate our opponents. We will have to play at our best because every match in this qualifying event is important.
"Coach Masatada Ishii has already worked out a game plan, so we must try to stick to that."
The match will kick off at 10pm (Thai time) and will be broadcast live by Thai Rath TV (32).
Fifa award for FAT
The Football Association of Thailand (FAT) has won the Fifa Forward Awards gold level from the world governing body.
FAT president Nualphan Lamsam said this is first time that the award has been handed to the Asian region with the two other winners being Indonesia and Kyrgyzstan.
Nualphan will travel to receive the award in person at the Fifa Executive Football Summit 2025 in Miami, United States, during the Fifa Club World Cup 2025.