JAKARTA: Fatigue and fitness are the key concerns for Thailand and Laos ahead of their AFF Suzuki Cup Group A opener at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium on Wednesday.
Thailand coach Bryan Robson has expressed worries about the freshness of his side, which only arrived in Indonesia on Monday after 12 players had been involved in the Thai FA Cup final a day earlier.
Meanwhile, his English compatriot, Laos coach David Booth is sweating on the health of some of his players who are feeling the effects of a case of food poisoning last week.
Thailand are favourites to win the tournament for a record fourth time but Robson has had little preparation with the team due to the late-finishing domestic season, which ended on Sunday when Chonburi beat Muang Thong United 2-1 in extra-time in the FA Cup final.
"Because the Thai Premier League just finished with the FA Cup on Sunday, I haven't really had any preparation time with the team at all. Today is the first training session that I have had with the players for the AFF Suzuki Cup," said Robson, who had little input into the 2010 league schedule.
While the former England international captain is confident that his players will adapt quickly to the tactics and formation of the national team, he is less sanguine about their fitness for the start of the month-long tournament.
"I'm not too concerned though about the team formation and the players getting to know each other because we have 17 players from three teams (Muang Thong, Chonburi and Buriram PEA) and they have been playing together on the national team for the past year.
"The main thing that concerns me is that I have a few injury problems and some of the players are quite tired after the end of the league season in Thailand.
"I've got about eight players that I need to assess after training today before deciding on my team. Both Natthaphong (Samana) and Datsakorn (Thonglao) had severe cramp after the FA Cup final so those are two players that I have to have a close look at."
Laos have lost their last eight games in the AFF Suzuki Cup group stage including a 6-0 hammering by the Thais in Phuket two years ago. But Robson does not consider the Indochinese side to be easy opponents.
"I saw Laos playing against Cambodia during the AFF Suzuki Cup qualifiers. They are not a weak team and we will not be underestimating them in any way," he said.
"We know that it will be a tough game. I don't think that there are any weak teams here and I believe that it will be really competitive."
Laos topped the qualifying tournament on home soil in October but Booth is well aware that his side will be playing at a completely different level in Jakarta.
"It will be a very difficult game for us but we've qualified and we knew what we were coming in to," said the 62-year-old Englishman.
"It will give us an idea of how our team is progressing. We feel that we've moved on a little bit in the last 12 months so it will be very interesting to see how we perform against Thailand. They are the number one team so there's no room for relaxation."
A number of the Laotian players were struck down by food poisoning after a warm-up match in Thailand last Wednesday with defender Kovanh Namthavixay and midfielder Phatthana Syvilay requiring drip feeds in hospital to recover.
Defender Saynakhonevieng Phommapanya also required hospital treatment for the same ailment two days later after lasting only 10 minutes of his side's 4-0 loss in Singapore.
Source - AFF Suzuki Cup
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