Motivation is evident in both fifa coins camps considering the significance of the showdown. The War Elephants head to Hanoi seeking to strengthen their lead with an away victory, while the Golden Stars are aware that they can leapfrog Iraq and move level with the Thais with three points. Thailand boasts a dominant head-to-head record with 13 wins from 19 previous meetings, notably claiming the first encounter 1-0.
The two nations also share a rich history of rivalry in the AFF Suzuki Cup. The visitors will look to captain Theerathon Bunmathan and marksman Teerasil Dangda, while the home side can count on the goal-scoring form by Le Cong Vinh who famously scored the decisive goal against Thailand which sealed their maiden regional title back in 2008.
1,000,000 - AFC has reached a major milestone, as stadium attendance numbers for the FIFA World Cup 2018 and AFC Asian Cup 2019 joint qualifiers have exceeded the one million mark. The total attendance for all stages of the qualifying competition, across the 88 fixtures played, has reached 1,166,971.
In Group A, a pair of strugglers take www.hellofifa.com centre stage with runaway leaders Saudi Arabia seeing their away match against Palestine postponed. Both hosts Timor Leste and Malaysia enter the game still seeking their first win in order to keep their diminishing hopes alive.