Thailand vs Philippines

Defending AFF Championship holders Thailand take on the Philippines in their second Group A outing at the Thammasat Stadium.

Thailand’s AFF Championship title defense got off to a flying start as they thumped minnows Brunei 5-0 in their opening Group A fixture, bouncing back from a lackluster 1-0 defeat to Chinese Taipei in their final warm-up game. Spanning back to the 2018 edition, the ‘War Elephants’ haven’t lost any o their last 15 AFF Championship matches (W10, D5), so confidence should be skyrocketing in Alexandre Polking’s camp. Thailand’s formidable six-game H2H record against the Philippines at the tournament (W4, D2) should further fuel the optimism, especially considering they’ve conceded an average of only 0.5 per game in that spread of clashes.

On the other hand, after a heartbreaking 3-2 defeat to Cambodia in their Group A opener, the Philippines have bolstered their hopes of progressing beyond the AFF Championship group stages for the first time since 2018. Inspired by a quick-fire double within the opening 12 minutes of play, they demolished Brunei 5-1 in round two to snap a three-match losing streak. Interestingly, their five-goal tally against Brunei was only one short of their uneventful haul of six goals across their previous eight internationals beforehand. Having netted under 1.5 goals in each of their six AFF Championship encounters against Thailand, the ‘Street Dogs’ are unlikely to improve their paltry scoring return in Bangkok.