Thailand vs Philippines

A place in the ASEAN Championship title decider is on the line as Thailand and the Philippines lock horns in the return leg of their enthralling semi-final tie at the Rajamangala Stadium.

Thailand’s title-defending campaign has reached a ‘make or break’ point after conceding a 95th-minute goal in a heart-wrenching 2-1 first-leg loss in Manila. Everything until that point was plain sailing for the War Elephants as they had won all four previous ASEAN Championship fixtures via a combined score of 18-4! The impending home return can inspire confidence around Masatada Ishii’s camp, considering his men haven’t lost any of their last six internationals on their own patch (W4, D2), netting precisely three goals in half of them. Furthermore, they’ve emerged victorious from all four home meetings with the Philippines in the 21st century, including the last three via multi-goal margins. It’s worth noting they scored 3+ goals in each of those three victories.

In the meantime, the Philippines are on the brink of history as they could set up their first-ever appearance in the ASEAN Championship final. However, they must overcome a substantial psychological barrier to see off Thailand after failing to make it out of this stage in all four previous attempts. Further skepticism stems from the visitors’ underwhelming road form in 2024. They’ve only won two of their ten away matches this calendar year (D2, L6), scoring under 1.5 goals on eight occasions! Avoiding defeat in Bangkok would do the trick, but head coach Albert Capellas can’t afford to take anything for granted, knowing the Philippines had lost five of their six encounters against Thailand (D1) before the first-leg heroics.