The Southeast Asian football championship kicks off on Friday, and it is a young and relatively inexperienced horde of the War Elephants who have been entrusted with the task of leading the country to their third straight AFF Suzuki Cup title.
Defending champions Thailand begin their quest for another regional crown against Timor Leste at Bangkok’s Rajamangala National Stadium on the opening day, with tougher Group B opponents like Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines waiting in the wings.
In Group A are Vietnam, Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos.
The top two teams in each group advance to the semi-finals.
For Thailand, this will be the first Suzuki Cup not only for a large number of players, but also for their Serbian coach Milovan Rajevac, who was hired by the Football Association of Thailand (FAT) in April last year.
After bagging the title in 2014 and 2016, the Thais are the hot favourites to win again, but they will be without their four foreign based stars — goalkeeper Kawin Thamasatchanan, playmaker Chanathip Songkrasin, striker Teerasil Dangda and left wing-back Theerathon Bunmathan — who played a pivotal role in winning the crown two years ago.
Kawin plays for Belgium’s OH Leuven, while Chanathip (Consadole Sapporo), Teerasil (Sanfrecce Hiroshima) and Theerathon (Vessel Kobe) are busy with their J1-League clubs.
The War Elephants are unable to select these four players for the biennial Suzuki Cup because the tournament falls outside Fifa calendar dates.
Last month, Rajevac did not select the quartet for an away friendly against Hong Kong, but the J1-League trio took part in a game against Trinidad and Tobago since they were keen to honour former Thailand goalkeeper Sinthaweechai Hathairattanakool in his testimonial match.
Although the Serbian coach will be without these foreign-based stars, he is still upbeat about the Thais’ chances in the Suzuki Cup, resting his faith in a new breed of players.
“It affects us in some ways because Thailand are the favourites. In Southeast Asia, Thailand are probably the best team and for these players, this tournament should be easy because they have been dominating at this level,” said Rajevac.
He added: “Without them, we are still the favourites and I have faith in my other players’ ability to handle the pressure, to play according to my instructions, to play as a team and to have a winning mentality that allows them to cope with the challenge of any other team.
“It’s a great chance for some players to prove themselves. They will be motivated because if they perform well, they can become part of the team for the Asian Cup.”
In the absence of Kawin, Teerasil and Theerathon, the coach must chose a new captain for the team in this tournament.
“It’s a good question for us and we are now giving it some serious thought. We are always monitoring players to learn about their personalities and characteristics,” said Rajevac.
“We are weighing up leadership qualities, authority and influence and who has respect of the other players. We always rotate the captaincy among three players and we will make the final decision and hopefully arrive at the best decision for us and the team before the tournament starts.
“The captain is like a coach on the pitch, so this is a very important thing and we have to choose wisely.”
Chalermpong Kerdkaew was captain for the War Elephants during a recent warm-up game.
It isn’t just the four foreign-based players who are not available for the tournament.
Rajevac has not included former regulars like Siroch Chatthong, Tristan Do, Charyl Chappuis, Sarach Yooyen and Kroekrit Taweekarn in the squad as well.
The players that Rajevac has called are mainly rising stars from Thai League 1 champions Buriram United and FA Cup and League Cup winners Chiang Rai United.
Given that the nation’s long term striker Teerasil won’t feature at the Suzuki Cup, there’s an opening up front and one of the Thailand’s most gifted youngsters, Supachai Chaided, will be hoping to fill that void.
However, striker Adisak Kraisorn, the only player from SCG Muang Thong United in the team, is on a comeback trail and he will be trying to seal his place in the side as well.
Supachai is among one of the five young players who are being tipped to excel in the regional event this year.
Supachai first shone on the international stage at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia.
While Thailand had a campaign to forget in Indonesia where they made an early exit and could only score two goals, it was a tournament to remember for Supachai who netted the team’s both goals.
Part of an impressive crop of technically gifted young players, the 19-year-old is perhaps best suited to playing just off the shoulder of another forward or even in a wider role, but having impressed in a more advanced position in recent friendlies he’s looming as a genuine option to cover for Teerasil.
For the goalkeeper’s job, there will be a fight between Siwarak Tedsungnoen of Buriram United and Chatchai Butprom who moved from Chiang Rai United to Bangkok Glass a few days ago.
Chatchai performed in a splendid manner to carry Chiang Rai United to the FA Cup and League Cup titles last month.
Theerathon’s place on the left wing can be taken up by either Korrakot Wiriyaudomsiri from Buriram United or Port’s Kevin Deeromram.
In Chanathip’s absence, the playmaker’s role looks likely to fall to Sumanya Purisay of True Bangkok United.
Sumanya was in a sparkling form for his Thai League 1 club and also impressive along with him in the midfield were his teammates Sorrawat Detchmitr and Pokklaw A-Nan.
Meanwhile, Rajevac, commenting on main challengers for the upcoming Suzuki Cup, said: “You never know about the current form of the team and the players they will have available but we definitely consider Vietnam to be the toughest challenge for us.
“Of course, the other teams have their strengths and we can expect a stiff test from Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Myanmar and Singapore who all have good players.
“But we see Vietnam as potentially the most difficult opponents. They have a quality league, they have very good young players. They have had good results at the younger age levels. It is clearly a team with good future prospects.”
FAT president Somyot Poompunmuang said: “I want every player to put in his best effort in the tournament.
“This is the tournament that most of the Thai football fans want the national team to win. The FAT has tried to help the players prepare in the best way possible.
“I am sure every player knows his duty well, but they need to to work hard, learn more tactics from the coach and be mentality strong. I am hoping that we will make the Thai fans happy again.”
However, Pol Gen Somyot dismissed reports that Rajevac would be sacked if Thailand fail to retain the Suzuki Cup.
He said he would assess Rajevac’s performance after the Asian Cup to be held in the United Arab Emirates in January.
