Thailand's national team coach Chanwit Pholchivin feels the prospect of facing hosts Qatar in the quarter-finals of the 15th Asian Games holds no fear for his high-flying side.

The desire to celebrate His Majesty the King's 79th birthday apparently spurred Chanwit's side to pull off a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Kuwait in their last Group C match on Tuesday.

The result not only guarantees a berth in the last eight for the second consecutive time but also puts Thailand firmly on the way in their campaign to reach the final for the first time.

However, the win came at a high cost for Thailand as three regular players including veteran striker Suchao Nutchnum, who scored the only goal in the opening match against Palestine, sustained injuries in the game.

There is a possibility that Asean's dominant side, who completed the group stage with a perfect record, would face the hosts who are likely to qualify as one of the two best runners-up in the knock-out round.

Although Qatar looks certain to be a daunting task for Chanwit's men, they hardly could find an easier job in the last eight where there are formidable opponents such as South Korea and Japan.

"Up to this point, it looks certain that Qatar will be our next opponents. Certainly the game will be tough but that doesn't mean we are afraid of facing them," said Chanwit.

"When you reach the quarter-final, you cannot expect to have an easy rival as every team is equally good.

"Although the match against the hosts looks tougher with the intimidating atmosphere of thousands of fans behind them, reaching the stage leaves us no option but to fight until the last breath.

"We need to study their form thoroughly to figure out our tactics. But what concerns us at the present is injuries to our players. Apart from Suthee Suksomkit who is already out, Suchao, Thana Chanabut and Hatthaporn Suwan are on the injury list.

"I'm hopeful that all of them will recover during the three-day break before our crunch game."

Thailand play their quarter-final match on Saturday.

Meanwhile, South Korea went through as Group B winners with a 1-0 win over Bahrain thanks to a goal from Oh Beom Song in the 57th minute.

Korea will meet the winner of Group F in the last eight - either Japan or North Korea.

Qatar beat UAE 4-1 to grab one of the two best runners-up spots.

They went into the game knowing they had to win by two goals to pip Kuwait who earlier lost top spot in Group C after losing 1-0 to Thailand.

Uruguayan-born Sebastian Soria scored twice with Abdulla Koni and Wesam Rizik adding to the total.

Uzbekistan eased through as Group A winners with a 3-1 win against Jordan.

Thailand stunned Kuwait 1-0 to make sure of their place in the quarter-finals.

Defender Teeratep Winothai scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot in the 37th minute to give the Thais their third win in three games and a perfect nine points in Group C.

In a bruising match there were six bookings, and Teeratep believes the Gulf side, who led the group going into the final round of games, had only themselves to blame.

"There were six yellow cards and most of them were shown to our opponents," said Teeratep.

"Kuwait were tough and they argued with the referee constantly."

In the final Group C match, Kyrgyzstan beat the Palestinian territories 3-0.

Yingrak Raksuwan

The Nation