A fateful meeting in the "double qualifiers"

The national team is ready to respond to the "war elephants" and expel the memories of "Tamasat"

The team defeated Malaysia by four goals without a response in the last round.

Photography: Osama Abu Ghanem

The national team will face a fateful confrontation when it meets Thailand, at 8:45 at Al-Wasl Stadium in Zabeel, in the eighth round of the Group G matches in the double qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup and the 2023 Asian Cup, as "Al-Abyad" seeks to repay the debt to "Elephants". The War”, who won the first leg match at Tamasat Stadium in the capital, Bangkok, with two goals to one.

The national team hopes to continue its victories, after it won, last Thursday, four goals without a response, and that the team will avoid the memories of the first leg against Thailand, during which “White” presented its worst matches led by Dutchman Bert van Marwijk, and because of this loss the team moved away from the top of Group G .

The Thailand team is one of the teams that has become a “node” for the national team, which has won over the “War Elephants” once in the last six matches that brought the two teams together, and this victory was on the sixth of October 2016 with a 3-1 result in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. Thailand won twice in the 2006 World Cup qualifiers, and in the first leg of the current qualifiers.

On the other hand, the two teams tied in three matches with a goal each in friendly in 2007, with the same result in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, and finally with a goal for each team in the group stage of the Asian Cup "UAE 2019".

"Al-Abyad" enters the meeting with high spirits, after the team achieved an important victory over Malaysia, which brought the team back into the atmosphere of competition for the top spot in Group G, as the national team raised its score to nine points in second place, equal with Thailand and Malaysia, while Vietnam tops the list. With 11 points, the latter will play today at the same time with Indonesia, which is in fifth place with one point obtained from a draw against Thailand in the last round with two goals for each team.

"Al-Abyad" seeks to win with a goal without a response or with a greater result, to outperform the difference in direct confrontations against Thailand, especially if the two teams are equal in points after the last round of the second stage of the qualifiers, while in general the technical staff hopes that the team will win to come close to the top The standings, in addition to Vietnam's stumble against Indonesia at Al Maktoum Stadium at Al Nasr Club.

Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk is betting on the way the team played in the second half against Malaysia, as despite the difficult start and the poor performance of the players in the first half, the team's performance improved, and the players were not affected by the physical aspect, giving the technical staff confidence in the ability of "Al-Abyad" to win over Thailand.

On the other hand, the technical staff is aware of the difficulty of the match compared to the previous meeting against Malaysia, as the “War Elephants” are characterized by speed in counter-attacks, in addition to defending well against organized attacks, so Marvik hopes that players with high skills will appear at their best levels, such as Khalfan Mubarak. Abdullah Ramadan, Fabio Lima and Ali Mabkhout, to be able to deal with the strong defense of the Thailand team.

The Dutch coach is expected to make one change in the lineup of the national team that he started in the previous match against Malaysia, especially after Caio Canedo starred after his participation in the second half instead of Khalil Ibrahim, to start the Al Ain player as a key player against Thailand, while Marvik is expected to keep the names. The same that played against Malaysia, while on the bench will have many players ready to participate and make additions to the team, such as Sebastian Tigali, Abdullah Al Naqbi, Majid Hassan and Hareb Sohail.

• "Al-Abyad" beat "War Elephants" once in the last six matches.

• The national team's stars enter the match with high spirits after defeating Malaysia.

Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news