I know about 10 players from this Thai squad on a personal level. Many of them are playing at Buriram while some have played here previously and moved on. They are a very tight-knit side; they spend a lot of time together, especially the boys in and around Bangkok.
There’s a complete contrast between the former coach (Kiatisuk ‘Zico’ Senamuang) and the current coach (Milovan Rajevac, who took over in 2017).
Zico was more about high volumes of possession, a lot of combinations and they absolutely walked this region. But they struggled when it came to World Cup qualifying.
Rajevac is defensive-minded. The Thai public don’t want to see that. They like entertainment, they like goals. That’s the culture in this region. The Thais are not happy winning 1-0. They didn’t win the recent AFF Suzuki Cup, so it’s a difficult phase for him (Rajevac).
I don’t think it will be easy for Thailand against India. Technically, the Thais are going to be very, very good. There are three very good players that will start all the games — Chanathip Songkrasin, Teerasil Dangda, and Theerathon Bunmathan, who have been playing in Japan.
Theerathon (left-back) has got a fantastic delivery on his left foot. Chanathip (attacking midfielder) is very difficult to deal with; he’s small but you can’t really outmuscle him and out-challenge him because he’s so quick in and around you. It’s very complex to take the ball off him. Teerasil (forward) doesn’t go past three or four players but he’s very smart; his movement’s good and he’s got that knack of scoring goals.
If they’re cautious, India could be left chasing shadows. India can approach this on the front-foot and give it a go and they’ve got players capable of scoring goals. If they want to be tactically a little compact and try to play on the counter, they’ve also got a little more speed. The North-Eastern boys are absolutely rapid.
It’s difficult. If India sit back, Thailand may pop the ball around too much. If India go for the throat, they may get done with one or two passes. But India have got Sunil Chhetri. When he’s on the pitch, anything can happen.
(As told to Shreedutta Chidananda)
Formerly at Bengaluru FC, Matt Holland is the technical director of Buriram United, Thailand’s most successful club in recent years