Thailand take on Taiwan in a must-win play-off encounter this Friday afternoon to keep alive their hopes of making it to the finals of the 2023 Fifa Women's Cup without going through another qualifying battle.
The Chaba Kaew suffered a 2-0 loss to Vietnam on Wednesday in a three-nation play-offs featuring quarter-final losers at the AFC Women's Asian Cup in Mumbai, India.
Thailand assistant coach Natsuko Todoroki urged her players on Thursday to put their Vietnam loss behind them and focus on securing a berth in the next year's finals in Australia and New Zealand.
Thailand, still affected by a Covid-19 outbreak in their squad, must now win against Taiwan this afternoon as another defeat will send them to the Inter-Confederation play-offs.
Thailand fielded a makeshift team without regular forwards as Silawan Intamee and Chatchawan Rodthong led the attack against Vietnam.
Among those who missed the match were forwards Miranda Nild and Saowalak Pengngam, with Thailand only managing one shot on target.
"It's obvious Vietnam worked hard for the win and they were the better team," said Todoroki. "The two goals conceded in the first half did us no favours. We tried our best and now we will have to focus on the next match.
"We have a very short period of recovery before our next game against Chinese Taipei."
On facing the must-win tie against Taiwan, Todoroki believes her players will do their best to claim victory against the East Asians.
"We will have in depth discussions with head coach Miyo Okamoto on how to proceed next. I believe we will come up with a suitable strategy for our final game.
"The red card for Kanjanaporn Saengkoon is a blow for us. We will have to find a suitable replacement. We're hoping to bounce back with a win against Chinese Taipei."
