Since making his Thailand debut back in 2013, Sarach Yooyen has been a near ever-present as long as he has been fit and available.
With 92 caps to his name, the 34-year-old is closing in on becoming only the seventh player to reach 100 appearances for the War Elephants.
The fact that two of the six centurions -- Teerasil Dangda and Theerathon Bunmathan -- are also currently active and long-time contemporaries of Sarach highlights just how much of a golden era Thai football has enjoyed over the past decade or so. And that is before mentioning 77-capped Chanathip Songkrasin, who has been the team's primary talisman during that period.
Teerasil, Theerathon and Chanathip each have three ASEAN Championship titles to their names. Teerasil is a five-time top scorer in tournament history, while both Theerathon and Chanathip have both been named Most Valuable Player -- the latter thrice, in fact.
Yet Sarach has something over them, even though such individual accolades have eluded him.
He has four ASEAN Championship winner's medals in his cabinet. And unlike the trio, he has never suffered failure at the competition -- given Teerasil, Theerathon and Chanathip were all part of the team which lost to Singapore in the 2012 final.
In every edition of the ASEAN Championship he has appeared in -- 2014, 2016, 2020 and 2022 -- he has gone on to lift the trophy, which makes him the only player with four titles to his name.
It is a remarkable record that bodes well for Thailand's current prospects as they look to win a record-extending eighth title over the next fortnight, with the next step of their quest a semifinal first leg against Singapore at Jalan Besar Stadium on Saturday.
But unlike the all-conquering teams of years gone by, there are some question marks still hanging over their credentials -- not over their quality but purely because this is not the strongest team they could have assembled -- even if they were the only team to win all four of their group-stage matches.
With clubs not obliged to release their players for the tournament, Thailand coach Anthony Hudson is having to do without some star names such as Chanathip, Theerathon, and the fearsome front three of Suphanat Mueanta, Supachok Sarachat and Supachai Jaided.
As is the case with their seemingly-endless factory line of prodigious talents, the next generation of War Elephants have simply rose to the occasion thus far.
With each passing game, Teerasak Poeiphimai gives further evidence he could be Teerasil's long-term successor as the focal point in attack, Yotsakorn Burapha is another regular goal threat, while Seksan Ratree and Kakana Khamyok could easily be Thailand's creators-in-chief for the next decade.
Still, it helps that Hudson has a seasoned stalwart to call upon in Sarach -- who has over 30 more caps than the next most-experienced campaigner in 36-year-old defender Pansa Hemviboon.
Sarach has never been the stereotypical box-to-box midfielder. He has always been a patient schemer. Methodic. Even metronomic. He is more often delivering the pass before the pass that becomes an assist.
Nonetheless, previously, there were still regular-enough occasions where he could be found deep in the opposition half.
At the current ASEAN Championship, sightings of Sarach in the final third are a limited-time experience -- although he did venture forward enough to score in his team's opening 5-0 victory over Laos.
By design, and fittingly given his larger role in the team not just limited to on the field, Sarach simply has to be the calming presence for all the youthful but at-times inexperienced exuberance all around him.
Hudson has not been afraid to rotate his players but, whenever he has fielded what looks to be his strongest XI, he has always had Seksan and Chaiyaphon Otton to put in the hard yards as the two No. 8s ahead of Sarach.
The Thailand captain is not there for his legs, even though he is deceptively strong in the challenge and tenacious with the press, especially in his younger days.
He is there to be the shield in front of the backline when the War Elephants are defending. And, more importantly, their first instigator when they do have the ball -- which is the majority of the time given their possession-based style of play.
Even though he plays much further behind, Sarach ranks only behind Indonesia's Thom Haye, Vietnam's Nguyễn Hoàng Đức and Myanmar's Maung Maung Lwin in key passes. He has the most accurate passes (240) of any midfielder, and his completion rate of 92.3% is second only to Hoàng Đức (92.6%).
Even though it is almost 13 years since his first cap, Sarach remains every bit an influential figure as he has been for the Thais over the many matches and tournaments gone by.
Already the most-successful player in the history of the tournament, it would hardly be beyond the realm of imagination if he and Thailand were to set new records when the final concludes on Aug. 26.
Especially given Sarach's Midas touch at the ASEAN Championship.