Thais to play Maldives in tuneup

Having been forced to cancel their training camp in the United Arab Emirates, Thailand have drafted in the Maldives for a warmup game at home ahead of next month's crunch World Cup qualifier in Oman.

Thailand initially planned to play a tuneup against the UAE and get acclimatised to the desert conditions, but UAE football authorities called off the February 24 fixture. As a result, Winfried Schaefer's side will extend their training camp in Chiang Mai before leaving for Oman. The Maldives have accepted an invitation to play in the country on February 24, with the venue for the game yet to be decided.

Heading into the final round of Group D fixtures, Thailand prop up the section with four points from five matches. But a Thai win coupled with Saudi Arabia losing to alreadyqualified Australia would see Thailand through to the final World Cup qualifying round.