Thailand vs Maldives

Markaziy Stadion in Namangan is the venue as Thailand and Maldives go head-to-head in the Asia Cup Qualification play-offs.

Thailand enjoyed a stellar start to the new calendar year, racking up four wins from their opening five matches (D1) before slipping to a 2-1 defeat to Bahrain last time out. The ‘War Elephants’ are odds-on favourites to get back to winning ways against a Maldives side they defeated 3-1 in their only previous international friendly. They have a decent form to fall back on. Since suffering a narrow 1-0 loss to Malaysia in a World Cup qualifier in June 2021, they’ve only lost one out of nine internationals as nominal hosts (W6, D2, L1). Much of the credit for Thailand’s success in that sequence has to go to a water-tight backline that kept six clean sheets across those nine matches.

In the meantime, Maldives cruised to a 2-0 friendly triumph over Bangladesh in their solitary international in 2022. By contrast, they closed out 2021 on a low, alternating between draws (2) and defeats (2) in their last four matches down the final stretch of the previous calendar year. After their three successive games featured over 2.5 goals and both teams on the scoresheet, Maldives’ last two outings have seen one or both sides fail to score in fixtures garnering under 2.5 goals. Yet, the ‘Red Snappers’ will hope for another low-scoring affair since they’ve conceded 2+ goals in their last three matches on foreign soil (D1, L2), at an average of three goals per game.