LAHORE Pakistan U-23 team will face Thailand juniors during the football event of XVI Asian Games to be held under Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) at Chinese city Guangzhou from November 7-26. The opening match will be played five days prior to the opening ceremony at Haixinsha Island in the Pearl River. Other Pakistans opponents in Group-F will be Oman and Maldives. Moving into the knockout stages is surely possible for the Akhtar Mohiuddin coached boys from Group-F but for that a win against Maldives is a must plus good results against Thailand and the mighty Omanis. The grouping is fine for us. The only strong team are Oman, said Thailand coach Bryan Robson - best known for playing in midfield for Manchester United. Thailand are stronger than Pakistan and Maldives but we wont underestimate them, said 90-capped Englishmen. The event will see 24 teams divided into six groups of four teams each with the top two sides from each group plus the four best third placed teams making it into the Round of 16. From there on it would be a knockout tournament to win the gold medal. Built in 1987, 60,000-capacity Tianhe stadium that hosted the final of the inaugural FIFA Womens World Cup in 1991, will host the final on Friday, November 26 (8 PM Kick-off). Defending Asian Games champions Qatar have been handed a relatively easy group in 52-match show. Qatar, who defeated Iraq 1-0 in the final of the last edition of the Asian Games held in their own backyard, are being placed in Group D alongside Kuwait, India and Singapore. Hosts China were slotted in Group A alongwith Malaysia, Kyrgyzstan and Japan. Group B includes Iran, Vietnam, Bahrain and Turkmenistan while Group C comprise of Korea Republic, Palestine, Jordan and DPR Korea. Uzbekistan, UAE, Hong Kong and Bangladesh form Group E.