Peeradol to skipper Thai side in Thursday night’s match

Thailand go into their Fifa Day friendly with Lebanon Thursday night under a new captain.
Peeradol Chamratsamee has been appointed as the new skipper of the War Elephants by Football Association of Thailand (FAT) president Nualphan Lamsam and national team coach Masatada Ishii to take over from veteran playmaker Chanathip Songkrasin.
Elias Dolah has been named as his deputy.
The match will kick off at Thammasat Stadium at 7.30pm and will be televised live by Thai Rath TV (32).
Addressing a pre-match press conference Wednesday, Ishii said his main plan is to use the games against Lebanon and Laos as platforms to assess different players before next month’s Asean Championship.
Thailand will take on Laos on Sunday night at the same venue.
“It isn’t necessary that we will call the same set of 23 players for the Asean Championship as well,” said Ishii.
“This time we haven’t had much time to prepare for these Fifa Day games and some of the new players didn’t perform as expected, but I was only hoping to see how they would fit in the national team setup.
“There are more Thai league games to be played before the Asean tournament, so we will continue our search for the new players with the aim to build a strong Thai team for the future assignments.
“Lebanon are a team who have a well-tested system, and they play according to that. They aim to retain control of the ball for as long as they can.
“I am not setting any targets for the team. I just want the players to understand the tactics and stick to the game plan. Our main target is to prepare the team for the Asean Championship.”
Meanwhile Peeradol said that all the players are ready for the match.
He hoped that the Thai fans will come to the venue in large numbers to support the team.