Thailand kicked off their campaign for a place in the 2027 Asian Cup finals with a 1-0 home victory over Sri Lanka on Tuesday night in a manner which forced their coach Masatada Ishii to admit that his team needed improvement.
A first-half strike from Patrik Gustavsson secured the victory for the War Elephants in the Group D opener of the qualifying tournament in front of a large crowd at Bangkok’s Rajamangala National Stadium.
Ishii praised his men for claiming three points from their first game of the qualifying event.
“Every player did his duty well, especially the substitutes,” said the Japanese coach after the match.
“Our defenders did not make any mistakes, but many people will be pointing fingers at our offence. That’s the area we need to improve.
“We have to sit and think about our inability to score and find ways to improve it before our next Fifa Day assignment.
“Our goal came quite late as well.
“I told the players to take things easy and believe in their teammates.
“We weren’t too worried about our defence, rather, it was our attacking game that concerned us more. It wasn’t fluid enough.”
Thailand will next meet Turkmenistan on June 10, while Sri Lanka play Taiwan.
The War Elephants would have scored more goals had it not been for the agile Sri Lankan goalkeeper, Weerasinghe Sujan Perera, who helped his team escape defeat by a bigger margin.
Both teams traded early blows but it was Thailand who looked more likely to score, and they broke the deadlock in the 43rd minute when Buriram’s Suphanat Mueanta laid the ball for Gustavsson to slot past Perera from inside a packed six-yard box.
At this point, Sri Lanka’s Kuwaiti coach Abdullah Al Mutairi argued with the Chinese referee and was red-carded.
Thailand were the dominant side again in the second half and nearly got their second goal but Supachok Sarachart’s shot hit the goal post.
Later, Suphanat Mueanta and Teerasak Poeiphimai had opportunities as well but they sent their shots wide.
Sri Lanka were put under pressure throughout the second half but some resolute defending kept the visitors in the game for the remaining 45 minutes.
In the other match of the same group on Tuesday night, which was played at Kaohsiung National Stadium in Taiwan, Turkmenistan edged Taiwan 2-1.
Turkmenistan got goals from Elman Tagayew in the 48th minute and Yazgylyc Gurbanow in the 83rd minute while Taiwan’s only goal was scored by Ange Kouame in the 63rd minute.
