Bangkok: Indonesia head coach Bima Sakti admits that his players will have to work extra hard when they face a well-rested Thailand in the AFF Suzuki Cup clash on Saturday.

The home side will have had eight days without a match since opening their Group B campaign at home to Timor Leste, while the Garuda have travelled to Singapore and hosted Timor Leste before making the trip to Thailand.

Despite the scheduling challenge, Bima insists his side are ready to face the defending champions.

“This is not good for us because we have already had two games and Thailand have had more time to prepare their team,” said Bima. “We must work very hard.

“Our team is ready for the game. After beating Timor Leste on Tuesday, I hope all the players have more motivation. It won’t be easy but we must focus and concentrate for 90 minutes.”

Bima acknowledged the threat of Thai striker Adisak Kraisorn, who helped himself to a double hat-trick on Matchday One as the Thais thrashed Timor Leste 7-0.

“We must watch out for this player (Adisak) because he is very dangerous,” said Bima. “Our defenders will have to focus and communicate effectively. Thailand is a good team. They have many good players.”

There should be a healthy away support in Bangkok and Bima believes it should lift the players.

“This is good for the atmosphere and will help the players’ spirit.,” he said. “I hope there will be a good spirit between the Indonesian fans and the Thai fans.”

Thailand head coach Milovan Rajevac insisted that he was not attaching any particular importance to this match ahead of the tricky trip to the Philippines on Wednesday. 

Dropping points against Indonesia would heighten pressure to get a result in Bacolod but Rajevac is not looking beyond Saturday.

“Every match is equally important for us,” he said. “We don’t feel any additional pressure. We are confident but let’s see how this match goes first and then we can think about the Philippines match which is just four days later.”

The Serbian is confident he and his coaching staff have done sufficient preparation for what could be a pivotal match for both sides.

“We have had eight days since the first match and everything has been going according to plan,” he said. “We have watched many Indonesia matches. We are pretty familiar with the whole team and now we prepare our team in our style for this match.”

Centre-back Manuel Bihr has had to withdraw from the Thailand squad due to injury but Rajevac played down the loss and pointed to the depth in his squad.

“I have full faith in the ability all of my players, so we always have options. We are coping with everything that happens.”