YOUNG THAIS IN CONFIDENT MOOD

The Thais based their confidence following their strong showing in the first leg in Ashgabat when they scored a psychological 1-0 win over host Turkmenistan the previous week with the only goal of the evening coming off Chakrit Buatong.

Team manager Kasem Jariyawatwong was quoted as saying that he was confident of the team putting up a good performance especially when they have been playing together for the last two years.

”We can give anyone a good game and we are not underestimating our opponents when we say that we can take the second match as well,” added Kasem.

Should Thailand advance over Turkmenistan, they will be up against either Iraq or North Korea in the next qualifying round.

The young Singapore side on the other hand will have a mountain to climb in their second leg qualifiers tomorrow when they face a resolute Pakistan side in Lahore.

And there will be no love lost between the two even though it will be Valentine’s Day tomorrow following Singapore’s 1-2 home defeat to the same side just a week earlier at the Jalan Besar Stadium.

Pakistan coach Muhammad Rasheed was non-committal about his team’s chances of making the next round preferring instead to focus on the need for more discipline when the two play each other again at the Punjab Stadium.

For Indonesia, they will be looking to improve on their performance in the second leg to what was largely a disappointing result in the first leg even though the homesters did win 1-0 over Maldives at the Gelora Bungkarno in Jakarta.

Head coach Ivan Kolev said that that he was not satisfied with the result considering the performance which was put in by his chargers.

“We dominated the match for long periods, made a lot of crosses and through passes but the finishing was a little off,” added the newly-appointed Kolev.

“I believe that the majority of the players were tense for the game and they obviously need to change this when they play in the second game tomorrow.

“For the second match, we should not be defensive just because we will be playing away. Why should we when generally, we have better quality players on our side.”

Myanmar will have it tough in their return leg encounter following their 1-1 draw against India in the first leg in Yangon while Vietnam will play their first leg, first round qualifier against Afghanistan only tomorrow following a reschedule by FIFA.

Afghanistan could not play their game last week due to flight problems.