The Thai team gathered on the afternoon of September 21. According to the schedule, they will have their first training session in Thailand to prepare for the FIFA ASEAN Cup 2026, the tournament will take place from September 24 to October 5 in Hong Kong (China) and Indonesia.
Thailand will play in Group B of Division 1, along with Vietnam, Philippines and Pakistan. If they top the group, they will face the top team in Group A (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Bangladesh) to compete for the championship.
Right at the first gathering, Chanathip Songkrasin - captain of the Thai team said: "I and the entire coaching staff have prepared carefully. This is our first tournament, and it will be very difficult to face other national teams. Each country has selected the strongest squad to participate in the tournament.
The Thai team wants to win the championship. We will do everything we can, dedicate ourselves and bring victory. I believe that everyone has a common goal and fans place very high expectations on us.
The Vietnamese team is a strong team. Hopefully we can compete fairly with them as well as defeat them to boost the morale of the national team and Thai fans.
At the ASEAN Cup 2026 recently, the Thai team lost to the Vietnamese team in the final. At that time, Chanathip and many Thai stars did not participate. This midfielder directly came to encourage the players as well as shared in the media that "there is no need to be afraid of the Vietnamese team". However, in the end, the "War Elephants" also lost the match.
This time, with the strongest force, the Thai team is much more confident when rematching with coach Kim Sang-sik's team on September 29.
Also according to Chanathip, FIFA ASEAN Cup 2026 will have many challenges in terms of food, nutrition and venues. However, he affirmed that Thailand has a lot of experience to cope with this problem.
I believe that we will try our best to win for the country. We must focus on each team and ourselves, and prepare as carefully as possible. Each team has a different playing style, we need to analyze them and ourselves to identify strengths and weaknesses," Chanathip affirmed.
