But Chanwit is being realistic about his young side's chances against China's senior squad, which could be spearheaded by their European-based stars including teenage sensation Dong Fangzhuo of Manchester United.

"The players have only trained together for one week, so they are really not ready to face such a strong side," said Chanwit before boarding his flight to China on Tuesday.

"China will field their Asian Cup squad, and we are undoubtedly very inferior to them. So there is the possibility that we may face a heavy loss, but I am not taking the results seriously as we are preparing our team for the Asian Games," added Chanwit, who was praised after steering the team to the seventh successive SEA Games title last year.

"We have nothing to lose and everything to gain when we

play such a top team in Asia.

People will certainly criticise us if we get thrashed, but I am ready for that."

Kitinan Sanguansak

The Nation