Burmese national soccer team fares badly in AFC run up

Monday, 08 February 2010 19:37 Kyaw Kha

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Burmese national football team has fared badly in matches played prior to the AFC Challenge Cup tournament sponsored by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

Myanmar (Burma) Football Federation (MFF) organized four matches for the Burmese national football team before embarking for the AFC Cup. But the Burmese team lost all four matches with poor margins.

"The head coach, who was sacked recently, experimented a lot regarding line up and techniques. This only confused the players and they performed poorly," MFF information in-charge Soe Moe told Mizzima.

The Burmese national team will play in the AFC Challenge Cup, to be held in Sri Lanka starting on February 16. Before participating in the AFC Cup, the team invited foreign teams and played matches at home.

The Burmese team lost to the South Korean amateur University Students Team 3-1 in the match played on January 26 at the Thuwanna National Stadium. Ironically, the foreign team is not a national team. It is just an amateur football team as the name suggests. In the second match against this team on January 28, the Burmese team lost yet again - 3-4.

The Burmese team played matches on February 1 with the Royal Thai Army FC and lost 3-0. Again on February 3 the Burmese team lost to the Thai Port FC 4-1. It lost all four matches.

In the Group A of the AFC Challenge Cup, the Burmese team has to play against the host team, and Tajikistan and Bangladesh.

The defending champions India, North Korea, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan will play in Group B.

Sports columnist Ko Kyo Gyi from 'Goal' sports journal said that the Burmese team lost its dignity by losing all the matches.

"The Burmese team lost the matches due to the head coach. He ought to have decided who should have been the first line-up and who the substitutes. Why did he exclude the former national team player in the first line-up? He made our national team lose its dignity," he told Mizzima.

In the AFC Challenge Cup 2010, the Burmese team will play against three other teams in the same group, two days apart. The team will play with Sri Lanka on 16 February, with Bangladesh on February 18 and with Tajikistan on February 20.

The Burmese national team is leaving for Sir Lanka on February 14 and will play the semi-finals on February 24, if it qualifies in group matches at all and can go to the finals on February 27 if they win the semi-final match.

The AFC Challenge Cup 2009 was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The Burmese team won against host team Bangladesh, 2-1, won against Macao 4-0, won against Cambodia 1-0 and came first in its group. The Burmese team won all three matches in its group.

Then head coach is the Croatian Drago Marmick, who was recently sacked for the poor results in the recent matches. Former national team player Tin Myint Aung has been reinstated.

The two winners of the AFC Challenge Cup will qualify for the 2011 Asian Cup without playing qualifying matches.

The MFF Chairman Zaw Zaw will hand over Kyat 100 million as prize money to the Burmese national team if the team manages to go beyond the group stage.