Thai test the toughest for Tigers

PETALING JAYA: It will be the toughest test yet for national coach Tan Cheng Hoe (pic) when his men host Thailand in their 2022 World Cup-2023 Asian Cup Group G qualifying match at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil tonight.

And he is demanding a better performance from his charges.

It’s a game the Malaysians need to win and they know it will be no mean task against the rejuvenated Thais.

Cheng Hoe said the Thais have improved a lot since their loss to Malaysia in the semi-finals of the AFF Suzuki Cup last year.

They have boosted the team with foreign-based players like midfielder Chanathip Songkrasin and goalkeeper Kawin Thamsatchanan.

The War Elephants’ new Japanese coach Akira Nishino, who previously guided the Blue Samurai in the 2018 World Cup, has added more steel to the Thais.

“Thailand have brought their best squad for this match ... we need to be better as they are a different side from last year.,” the 51-year-old former international told a prematch press conference yesterday.

“We did beat Tajikistan in our friendly match last week but this game will be tougher.

“We need to improve in all the departments when we face a strong opponent with an established coach.

“We can’t afford to focus on any single Thai player because the whole team is packed with good players.”

The Harimau Malaya are currently fourth in the five-team group with three points from three matches.

They kicked off their campaign with a 3-2 win over Indonesia on Sept 5 before narrowly losing their next two matches – 1-2 to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Sept 10 and 0-1 to Vietnam on Oct 10.

Thailand lead the group with seven points and a better goal difference ahead of Vietnam.

The UAE are third with six points while Indonesia are still without a point.

Nishino also said past results would not count in the clash against Malaysia and he just wants his men to play well.

“In order to qualify, we need to play eight matches in the group stage and we need to play all our matches well ... past results don’t count much and we need to focus game by game,” said the 64-year-old.