Bangkok.

The National football team of Thailand was handsomely defeated by Barcelona in a friendly match in Rajamangala National Stadium in Bangkok on Wednesday. The star studded Catalan club with all their stars making an appearance overwhelmed the hapless Thai team 7-1 with Merci. Thailand is preparing for the upcoming match in the 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers against Iran. A win is crucial for  the Thai team to keep their hope of qualifying for the tournament in Australia alive as currently they have 0 points from two matches against Kuwait at home and Lebanon away.

The match attracted a near capacity crowd in Bangkok. Neymar, the Brazilian star and Barca’s recent signing opened scoring early on , then Lionel Messi got on the scoring sheet before Pedro scored his 1st of three in the match. Messi helped himself to another while Sanchez also scored in the second half. From minute 53 onwards, Barcelona stopped scoring despite going close on numerous occasions. The 2nd half saw a complete different Barcelona team consisting mainly of reserve players and new signings.

While Thailand is arranging strong friendly matches against world class opposition,( including a previous match against Chelsea) to prepare for the match against Iran in 68 days, Team Melli has failed to arrange any friendlies since its last match against South Korea in Ulsan where they clinched direct qualification to the FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil.  A schedule camp in August including a friendly match against Ghana in Portugal was cancelled by the football federation due to lack of funds !

Team Melli is currently leading the group with 4 points on goal difference with Kuwait.