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Published on January 15, 2008

Coach Chanvit Pholchivin and his 24-member squad arrived in England on Sunday for a two-week training stint at Manchester City, the club owned by former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, to prepare for the World Cup qualifiers, which will resume next month.

The Thais have been drawn in Group B along with regional powerhouse Japan, Bahrain and Oman.

Chanvit's men will start their campaign on February 6 with a tough away assignment against Japan in Saitama.

With the English season through midway, it appears that the Thai team's hopes of facing top clubs in their scheduled three fixtures seemed far-fetched.

They now line up to face an Altrincham side hovering above the relegation zone in the Blue Square Premier division, the fifth-tier league.

"We have to play with non-league opponents instead of the big clubs we had hoped for.

"Due to league commitments, it seems highly unlikely we would get opposition of the quality that we expected," said Kittiratt Na Ranong, the team manager.

"We face Altrincham in our first match. We'll contact other teams for the other two games," Kittiratt said.

Meanwhile, Thailand's World Cup preparation got a boost after Jim Cassell, the City Academy manager, was assigned to help Chanvit prepare the team during their stay in Manchester.

The Nation