Thailand vs Myanmar

Thammasat Stadium plays host to Thailand’s seemingly routine international friendly against minnows Myanmar.

Thailand had enjoyed a stellar start to 2022, racking up four consecutive victories since an enthralling 2-2 draw with Indonesia in early January, yet they’ve seemingly run out of steam since. Since Bahrain’s 2-1 triumph in May knocked them down from an outstanding 12-match unbeaten streak (W10, D2), the ‘War Elephants’ have blown hot and cold across their last five outings (W3, L2). Yet after losing back-to-back fixtures to Uzbekistan and Malaysia, Alexandre Polking’s side netted on either side of halftime in a 2-1 beating of Trinidad & Tobago last time out to set themselves up nicely for this encounter. Having won their last six H2Hs against Myanmar via multi-goal margins, Thailand will be confident about launching another eye-catching winning run here.

In the meantime, Myanmar held Hong Kong to a tepid goalless draw last time out, halting a dreadful run of seven successive defeats, six of which had yielded multi-goal margins. Indeed, a lack of defensive quality saw the ‘Chinthe’ concede 23 goals during that seven-game sequence at an average of 3.28 per game, highlighting the potential for another H2H catastrophe. After shipping 3+ goals in their last three showdowns against Thailand, they look like a doomed outfit even before the kick-off. Adding to this sentiment, Antoine Hey’s men have failed to get on the scoresheet on nine of their last ten international travels, losing nine times in the process (D1)! It’s also worth noting that they conceded 4+ goals on six occasions in that span.