Thailand kicked off their 2024 Fifa Futsal World Cup campaign with a 2-1 victory over Croatia in Bukhara, Uzbekistan, on Saturday.
Muhammad Osamanmusa put the Thais ahead in the third minute of the Group B match, which served as the opening game of the tournament, slotting home an excellent cross from Sarawut Phalaphruek.
Croatia mounted the pressure on the Thais after conceding the goal but the equaliser remained elusive.
Thailand goalkeeper Arut Senbat did an exceptional job in thwarting the Croatian moves in the first half.
The Thais added another goal to their tally when Ronnachai Junwongsuk stole the ball off a loose clearance by a Croatian defender and planted it into the net after 30 minutes.
However, a minute later, the Croats reduced the deficit with Antonio Sekulic pulling one back for his team.
During the last five minutes of the match, the Croatians went all out in search of the leveller, but Arut was up to the task as he warded off a late attempt by Sekulic.
Thailand survived the onslaught and picked up their first three points of the tournament.
They will play their next group game against Cuba on Tuesday. The fourth team in the pool are five-time futsal world champions Brazil.
Big meet in Pattaya
The Asian Football Confederation has selected Thailand to host the AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup 2025.
The AFC has sent a letter to the Football Association of Thailand (FAT), confirming the country's selection as the host of the next year's tournament.
This will be the third time that the Kingdom will organise the beach soccer event after staging it in 2019 and 2023 in Pattaya.
As the host country, the Thai national beach soccer national team will be awarded a spot in the finals.
They will be placed in Pot 1 for the draw while the names of the other 15 nations have yet to be confirmed.
The competition will be held in March next year in Pattaya.
The winners, runners-up and the third-place team will qualify for the 2025 Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup in Seychelles in May.
In the last year's edition, the Thai beach soccer reached the quarter- finals.