The New Year brought high hopes and great plans for the Thailand national football team, as they began 2024 with a friendly match against the “Samurai Blue” at The Japan National Stadium in Shinjuku, Tokyo.
However, the goliaths of the Japan national team crushed the Changsuek (Translated from Thai as the War Elephants) with a scoreline of 5-0, which revealed to the new Thailand coach Masatada Ishii that they still had a lot to practice.
The exhibition game for the Toyo Tires Cup took place at 12 in the afternoon (Indochina Time) and was broadcast live on Thairath TV (32) and the Changsuek Official channel on YouTube.
Ishii, a highly regarded coach, came to his native country of Japan without some of the top Thai players, including veteran striker Teerasil Dangda and clever playmaker Chanathip Songkrasin. This was Ishii’s debut game as in charge of the War Elephants, but even his mastery in strategic foresight fell short against Japan’s manager and head coach, Hajime Moriyasu.
The heartbreak began with Ao Tanaka. Japan’s midfielder scored a goal at the 50-minute mark, which was followed by another goal by their striker Keito Nakamura at minute 72. Thailand’s defender Elias Dolah, after receiving a yellow card, went on to score an own goal right after Nakamura.
The final nails in the coffin were delivered by midfielders Takumu Kawamura and Takumi Minamino, who scored the fourth and fifth goals for the Japan national football team at the 82-minute mark and 2 minutes extra from full time.
🔸 INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY MATCH (1/1)
FT: Japan 🇯🇵 5️⃣ – 0️⃣ 🇹🇭 Thailand#FAT pic.twitter.com/DmCf9GgKEd
— ASEAN FOOTBALL (@theaseanball) January 1, 2024
Thailand and The New Coach
On Sunday, 31 December 2023, Thai coach Masatada Ishii told a pre-match press conference, “This will be a special occasion because the game between Thailand and Japan replaces the FA Cup final, which is traditionally played on Jan 1”.
The Japanese coach also made the following statement regarding his team’s preparedness, “The level of fitness of our players is different at this stage. I am grateful to the clubs for releasing players for this game, but some of them had matches a few days ago. I will also have to be careful with their fitness because they are all required to go back to represent their clubs in Thai League 1 soon after this game.”
However, Ishii added that the back-to-back matches will not hinder their dedication, saying, “I am not trying to suggest in any way that we are not ready for the game with Japan. We had a very short training stint, but I have told the players to do their best and prove themselves in the tussle with Japan, who play the game at a much higher level.”
“We have met before when we were coaching club teams, but this time it will be different because this is a match between two national sides,” Ishii stated in response to a question about facing Japan coach Moriyasu once again.
When asked about what Ishii plans for the team’s growth, he explains, “Akira Nishino was the head coach of Thailand before. He tried to develop the team but could not do much because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Now that I have become the head coach of Thailand, I will try to help the team get better and better.”
Although the Japanese are overwhelming favorites against the War Elephants, Thailand manager Nualphan Lamsam expressed her belief that Ishii’s experiences could have a significant impact on how today’s match unfolds.
“I have confidence in coach Masatada Ishii. He has a lot of experience. I think the team could have a good game against the Japanese,” said Nualphan, who could not travel with the team to Japan due to illness.
Japan Dominating National Football
With nine games in a row, this victory against the Thailand national football team created a new record for the longest winning run for the Samurai Blue.
Manager Hajime Moriyasu, who was supposed to announce his Asian Cup team later, said, “This win was the result of players communicating on and off the pitch about what they needed to do to bring out the best in each other.”
Japan’s fifth Asian Cup campaign will kick off on January 14 against Group D opponents Vietnam, followed by matches against Iraq and Indonesia.
The Samurai Blue’s last tournament warm-up match is set for January 9 against the Jordan national football team.
