Suthee, who plays for Home United in Singapore's S-League, only joined the national team in the Vietnamese capital yesterday after completing his club duty. However, the pacy forward is due to return to Singapore on Saturday, and that means he will miss the crunch match against the hosts the following day.

Chanwit said Suthee will have a late fitness test and depending on the result, he may be forced to tinker with his tactics for the opener against the Middle Eastern side.

"Due to his late arrival, we will give him [Suthee] until the last minute to prove his fitness," said Chanwit. "If he is not too tired, he will get a run as I would like to experiment with him in the roles of left-side midfielder and striker," added Chanwit, who guided the Thai team to their seventh consecutive SEA Games title last year in the Philippines.

Chanwit said he will use the tournament as the final trial before deciding who will take the three spots allowed for over-age players in the under-23 team which will contest this year's Asian Games in Qatar in December.

Chanwit believes Suthee, one of the over-age players, will not have any problems adapting to the team's system even though the Home United striker has yet to play with his team-mates in competitive matches after almost two years in exile from the national team.

The Thai team open their campaign today in the quadrangular tournament against Bahrain at 3.10pm (Bangkok time) before next facing New Zealand, who have Fulham's reserve team midfielder Chris James in their side, on Friday.