Group F teams begin their Asian Cup campaigns on Tuesday as Thailand face Kyrgyzstan at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium in the second successive appearance of this competition for both nations.
A 3-0 win over the Maldives in their opening third-round Asian Cup qualifying fixture ultimately enabled the War Elephants to make a return trip into this competition, while the White Falcons went unbeaten in their third-round group.
Their 2019 Asian Cup campaign was a massive boost for this program, with the War Elephants winning back-to-back ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) titles since then, while they are in a position to advance into the third stage of 2026 World Cup qualifying, sitting second after two matches.
Even with some of those successes, the Thailand FA decided to go another direction, sacking the popular Alexandre Polking in favour of Masatada Ishii.
The managerial debut for the Japanese coach went about as badly as he could have imagined, with the War Elephants suffering a second-half meltdown, conceding five times in the final 45 minutes and losing 5-0.
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