Patience a virtue against Thailand

SOCCEROOS players have warned of the threat posed by Thailand tomorrow night, stressing patience was vital.

A minimum three-goal win is required for Australia to gain direct qualification to the World Cup finals next year in Russia, assuming Saudi Arabia beats Japan on Wednesday morning.

But wing back Mathew Leckie has implored his teammates to stay cool.

While Australia has won five of its past six clashes with the Thais, defender Matthew Spiranovic warned they would be no pushover.

“When I look back at past experiences, the last three or four games against Thailand have been very close,’’ Spiranovic said.

“Technically, they’re very capable and quite quick and they’ll have a game plan to try and expose us.

“We’ll definitely have to be at our best if we want to get the result that we need.’’

Leckie said home advantage and more forward possession would be crucial.

“I don’t think much has to change, we just have to go out with full confidence,’’ Leckie said.

“We know when we play at home we’re very strong. And if we can put them on the back foot early, it’ll cause them a lot of problems. It’s happened plenty of times at home where if we’ve scored early, the opportunities to score have come along, so that’s going to be important.

“If not, we have to stay patient because in 90 minutes anything can happen. Goals can happen at any time.

“The most important thing is to stay composed.

“I think we’ll have more possession ... and hopefully that gives the opportunity to the wing backs to get forward. It happened against Japan as well. They went very direct, so we had to choose our moments when to go. But if we can get on top of Thailand and push them back into their own half, it’ll definitely give us the opportunity to get high.

“We need goals and towards the end of the game we might have to take risks.’’