Ishii says Thai team need improvement

Thailand were held to a second draw in as many matches when Laos secured a 1-1 tie at Thammasat Stadium on Sunday night, but War Elephants coach Masatada Ishii said he will be keeping faith with the same squad for the next month’s Asean Cup.
After a goalless first half which was dominated by the hosts, the Thais found themselves one goal in front at the stroke of the hour when William Weiderjo set up Sakesan Ratree to score.
However, the War Elephants’ joy didn’t last long as Laos equalised through a spectacular long-range shot by Bounphachan Bounkong nine minutes later.
Ishii told a post-match press conference that the main lesson learned from the matches against Lebanon, which ended in a goalless stalemate on Thursday night at the same venue, and Laos was that longer training stints were needed to prepare the national team.
“From the two warm-up matches this month, we have seen many things such as we must train harder than this and must try to correct our mistakes. We have to look for ways to raise our strength but also to understand that we have less time in preparation,” said the Japanese coach.
“For the Asean Cup tournament, we want to win the trophy, but our defensive game needs improvement and we need to be better on offence as well.
“There were many newcomers in the team and we didn’t have much time to prepare, so these results were kind of expected. These are the players who will also be featuring at the Asean event.”
The next mission for the Thai national team is to defend their Asean Mitsubishi Electric Cup 2024 title from Dec 8-Jan 5.
Seven-time regional champions Thailand have been drawn in Group A with Timor Leste, Malaysia, Singapore and Cambodia.