Thailand and Bahrain will go head to head in an international friendly on Tuesday as both nations prepare for their Asian Cup qualification fixtures.

While the home side are on an 11-match unbeaten streak, Bahrain have prevailed in five of their last six fixtures.

Match preview

Having only finished fourth out of five teams in their World Cup qualification group, Thailand have been required to regroup over the past 12 months.

However, Alexandre Polking, who has worked in that part of the world for some time, has spearheaded a revival since his appointment last September.

A total of nine wins and two draws have come from 11 matches, eight of those games coming during a successful AFF Championship campaign which was capped with a 6-2 aggregate win over Indonesia in the final.

Thailand have been no stranger to success in that competition over the years, but they were able to reclaim the trophy that they failed to defend in 2018.

The War Elephants now appear suitably prepared for the upcoming Asian Cup games, although that could change with a negative result on Tuesday.

Bahrain can claim to be making significant strides in the world of international football, even if a 1-0 defeat in Belarus represents signs of progress.

Over the past 12 months, the Reds have also only lost to New Zealand and Qatar by the same scoreline, making it no surprise that they have performed impressively against weaker teams.

The Arab Cup late last year did not go to plan as they failed to win any of their three group games, but Helio Sousa has shown that he remains the right man at the helm.

Bahrain and Thailand have not locked horns since the latter prevailed 1-0 on away territory in an AFC Asian Cup fixture back in January 2019.

Team News

With the next competitive game still over a week away, Polking may decide to stick with much of the team which defeated Turkmenistan on Friday.

Adisak Kraisorn came off the substitutes' bench to score a late winner, the Port frontman potentially doing enough to replace veteran Teerasil Dangda.

Sousa may also want to take a similar approach with his Bahrain XI after they defeated Myanmar on the same day.

Mahdi Abduljabbar was another replacement who made an impact upon his introduction and could force his way into the front three.

Thailand possible starting lineup:
Thamsatchanan; Bureerat, Praisuwan, Pomphan, Notechiya; Puangchan, Yooyen, Weerachart; Charoenattanphirom, Dangda, Phala

Bahrain possible starting lineup:
Mohammed Jafer; Ayyad, Benaddi, Al Hayam, Al Hooti; Haram, Abdulwahab, Jaafar; Al Khatal, Al-Humaidan, Yusuf

We say: Thailand 1-1 Bahrain

With both nations in good form, this has the potential to be an entertaining contest. However, the two teams will also want to avoid defeat before some important fixtures, leading us to predict a low-scoring draw.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

Written by
Darren Plant

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