ASEAN Cup 2026 Group B Prediction: Thailand Team is the strongest

The Thai team - the 7-time champion - will begin their journey to conquer the championship of this year's tournament with a match against the Lao team away from home on July 25.

The Thai national team is being led by coach Anthony Hudson. After helping the team get a ticket to the 2027 Asian Cup, his next goal is to help his team win the regional number one tournament. In the last 3 ASEAN Cups, "War Elephants" - Thailand's nickname - all reached the final. In 2024, they lost to Vietnam after 2 very dramatic matches.

This year, coach Hudson could not fully call up the best players. Thailand's squad combines the youth of some players who have never worn the national team jersey with the experience of veterans such as Chatchai Bootprom, Pansa Hemviboon and Narubadin Weerawatnodom. These three players are members of Buriram United, who have won the C1 Southeast Asian Cup for 2 consecutive years.

War Elephants" are predicted to have an easy start to this year's tournament when they meet the Lao team in the opening match on July 25. The Lao team is being led by Vladica Grujic, who used to be an assistant coach for the Lao team in 2011 under Hans-Peter Schaller.

Laos has never passed the group stage of this tournament and the last time they won was in 2004 with a score of 2-1 against Cambodia thanks to a double in the second half by Chalana Luang-Amath. To prepare for this tournament, the Lao team had a half-month training trip at Ham Rong Training Center of Hoang Anh Gia Lai Club, Vietnam.

Here, the Lao team played 4 friendly matches with Hoang Anh Gia Lai team and Ho Chi Minh City Youth team and achieved positive results. With that foundation, coach Grujic's Lao team is confidently heading towards the ASEAN Cup 2026.

The Malaysian team is also considered quite high in Group B, under the guidance of interim coach Tan Cheng Hoe. Mr. Tan has taken over the position from Mr. Peter Cklamovski and will bring a lot of experience to Harimau Malaya - the nickname of the Malaysian team.

Tan Cheng Hoe once led the Malaysian team to the 2018 ASEAN Cup final, where they lost narrowly to the Vietnamese team. This strategist also worked as an assistant for K. Rajagopal and won the 2010 ASEAN Cup with the Malaysian team. Experience and understanding of regional football will help Tan Cheng Hoe confidently lead his team towards positive results at this year's tournament.

Meanwhile, the Myanmar team is led by coach Jorn Andersen. In the latest friendly match, the team lost to the Vietnamese team 0-4, but the team still has a lot of potential to improve. Andersen's experience of leading the DPRK team, Hong Kong (China) promises to help him improve his skills in organizing, playing dynamically and flexibly for Myanmar players at the upcoming ASEAN Cup.

The Philippines team under the guidance of Carles Cuadrat is also highly rated. Last June, they had 2 resounding victories with the same score of 5-1 against Myanmar and Guam at home. The Philippines' goal is to win a ticket to the ASEAN Cup semi-finals for the 2nd consecutive time and the 6th time in history, before considering higher ambitions.