What happened when India U23 faced Thailand U23 last time?

India U23 team last faced Thailand U23 in 2007 at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok.

India U23 football team are set to travel to Thailand to face off against Thailand U23 in their next two matches in the November 2025 international window. With Naushad Moosa’s side currently on a three-match winning streak, the Blue Colts look to extend that to five at the end of the Thailand tour and also finish off 2025 in a positive manner.

However, it’ll definitely be a challenging prospect for India U23 to defeat Thailand U23 at their own yard in the next two games. Moreover, the Blue Colts have had a pretty shaky record against the Thailand U23 when it comes to former matches, even though it’s been well over a decade since the two sides actually met in an international match.

Renewed plans for India U23 football team

Because less emphasis had been placed on the India U23 national team in the 2010s decade, they didn’t really get to face off against that many challenging opponents. The most recent match between India U23 and Thailand U23 took place in the qualification for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Indeed, India were among the U23 national teams who had to play in the qualifiers to be able to book a place in the football category of the Beijing Olympics in 2008. They took part in a tough group in the preliminary second round of qualifying, being placed in the same group as Thailand, Iraq and North Korea.

As a result, the Blue Colts faced Thailand U23 twice in the group stages because of the round-robin format. The first match between India U23 and Thailand U23 in the groups of the Olympics qualifiers was actually marred in controversy. That is because Thailand U23 had actually picked up a 1-0 win at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium (on 14 March, 2007), but the visiting team was found guilty of bending the rules.

Indeed, the Thailand U23 team was punished for using a suspended player in the match against India U23. As a result, the Blue Colts were given an automatic 3-0 win and managed to get their first win over Thailand U23. After that, a heated second encounter was set up between Thailand U23 and India U23 in what was the final qualification match for both teams.

What happened in India U23’s last game against Thailand U23?

The previous game between India U23 and Thailand U23 took place at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok on 6 June (2007). With Thailand looking to get t heir revenge over India for the manner in which they lost the reverse fixture in the Summer Olympics qualifiers, they pushed hard to get a win.

The match itself was not really a memorable one at all for the Blue Colts. The Indian side struggled to cope with the intensity of the hosts and couldn’t really maintain their momentum after holding Iraq U23 to a draw before the Thailand U23 clash.

India U23 started the game relatively well, but it was Thailand who soon assumed control of the game. The hosts took the lead in the 27th minute after midfielder Apipoo Suntornpanavej scored the opening goal by finishing off a slick move. India U23 were seemingly stunned by that and failed to deliver an answer in the first half.

The Blue Colts upped the intensity of the match by putting the hosts under the backfoot for some periods in the second half. However, they just weren’t clinical enough in putting away their opportunities clinically enough. Ultimately, Thailand U23 were able to soak in all the pressure and put the finishing touches to the game in stoppage time.

In the 90th minute, a 19-year-old Teerasil Dangda scored the second goal of the game by finishing off a swift transition to secure a win for his side. Dangda, of course, went on to have a prolific career with the Thailand national team after this and has scored 64 goals for them so far. This win allowed Thailand U23 to jump over India U23 and secure a third-place finish in the group stages of the Summer Olympics qualifiers.

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