Will Thailand Ever Make It To The World Cup?

There are few competitions in world sports that can gravitate as much excitement as the World Cup. The global football competition is staged every four years, as the best players from across the planet compete for the most prestigious honor. Fans were treated to one of the most enthralling editions of the competition in history in 2022, as France and Argentina clashed in a final for the ages.

Despite Kylian Mbappe’s stunning hat trick, it was to be Lionel Messi’s moment in the sun, as he led Argentina to a third success at the competition. Argentina’s success is something that other nations would have been looking on enviously at, as a dream run in the World Cup is something that only a few achieve. For some nations, especially football-crazy Thailand, just participating in the World Cup would be a dream.

Thailand’s World Cup History

Since the first edition of the World Cup where Thailand withdrew from consideration after losing their opening four games in qualifying, the nation has failed to reach the group stages proper of the World Cup. In fact, between 1974 and 1982, the nation won just one game in qualifying for the tournament. Qualification for the World Cup has been made harder in recent years, but there have been slender hopes that the progression of the nation may be improving.

Between 2010 and the latest qualification campaign, Thailand has won eleven games, marking a huge turnaround in their fortunes, but there is still an extremely long way to go if they are ever to make it onto the list with thaibets365.com as an outright contender for World Cup glory.

Baby Steps

Football in Thailand has always been remarkably popular, but the nation hasn’t been able to capture the imagination from an international standpoint. They claimed a first victory in the AFC Asian Cup in 2007, but they needed to wait until 2019 to end their 47-year wait to make it out of the group stage.

Progression through to the main stages of the World Cup has often been a difficult stage to pass, as Thailand has twice made it through to the final round of qualifying, but they were beaten in both 2002 and 2018. Once again, baby steps have been made in the international game in recent years, as they finished third in the King’s Cup, but a competitive honor remains elusive.

2022 World Cup Qualification Campaign

Hopes were high among fans when the 2022 World Cup qualification got underway, as Thailand nearly managed to make it through to the finals just four years earlier. However, the hopes of reaching Qatar were dashed as early as the second round in the previous round of qualification. Thailand managed to win two games in the group stage, with one of those being an impressive 2-1 success against eventual table-toppers in the UAE.

They also lost just once in four home games. But, the away form was ultimately costly toward the chances of reaching the next stage, as they lost twice and drew once in four games on the road. The only win that they picked up away from home in qualification was a routine success against Indonesia. But, Thai fans will already be beginning to dream again that the next qualification round, which gets underway in October, maybe their chance to finally reach the World Cup finals for the first time.

World Cup Could Offer Hope

Few regions enjoyed as much success as Asia in the World Cup in Qatar. Japan was undeniably the brightest star, as they topped their group, which also included Spain and Germany, while the Japanese also shocked the world with victories over both European heavyweights. However, their dream run eventually came to an end following a penalty shootout loss against Croatia.

South Korea also excelled despite many tipping them to exit at the group stage, as they managed to hold off Uruguay and Ghana to take second in their round. However, they also exited the World Cup in the round of 16. Australia was potentially one of the over-performers that went under the radar, as they beat Denmark to reach the round of 16. But, like Japan and South Korea, they also fell in the round of 16, but they did push Argentina to the brink.

Conclusion

The future will bring with it new hope, and there are certainly signs that Asian football is on the rise following the success of the nations that represented the continent in Qatar. However, with the increased quality within the region, it could mean that a first appearance at the World Cup for Thailand may be difficult to achieve in the next ten years.