Thailand will have a match against Indonesia in the 2022 World Cup qualifier in Asia on March 26. Thailand are third in Group G and although they still have the opportunity to keep up with Vietnam Tel at the top and surpassed Malaysia by just one point, they can not miss even 1 game when in 3 matches. Last match they have both UAE & Malaysia waiting for me, which UAE can completely push Thailand down to fourth if they win the match late.
Indonesia are the last-placed team and have no chance of competing, but they changed the champion in late 2019 and the achievement pressure removed can make this team play better than usual in the remaining games. And a significant advantage for them can appear: Thailand home team affected by Corona virus.
According to information from the Thai press, coach Akira Nishino is preparing a list for the match against Indonesia but he will have to take into account the case that his four important players can not play due to Corona virus prevention reasons. Those four players are all currently playing in Japan: goalkeeper Kawin Thamsatchanan, defender Theerathon Bunmathan and two strikers Chanathip Songkrasin & Teerasil Dangda.
In addition to goalkeeper Kawin, the other three players are almost certainly in the starting line-up of Thailand. But their return from Japan also means they will have to comply with a request from the Thai Ministry of Health, as the agency requires people to return to Thailand from four countries - China, Singapore, Japan and South Korea. Nationals will have to be isolated for 14 days.
Japanese soccer leagues are on hold due to the Corona epidemic
Japanese football competitions have now been postponed until March 15, and if the situation gets worse, they may have to postpone it. But clubs are not obliged to return their players to the national team if it is not FIFA Day, so the group of four Thai players in Japan cannot return soon, isolate 14 days and then kick off the field. with Indonesia.
According to the schedule, in addition to the match against Indonesia, Thailand Tel also held a friendly against Curacao on March 30, the friendly match was initially against Panama but Panama then asked to withdraw. It is likely that the quartet kicking in Japan of Thailand Tel will also not be able to play this friendly match.
