Watched the first Okayama friendly. I thought it was a good decision to practice against a different style of play (very Barca like - possession heavy), instead of taking on national teams that play similarly as Myanmar. We held our shape fairly well, although Okayama equalizer was a set piece and our defender did not trail their forward who headed in the goal. Our strength continues to be counter attack - it will be interesting to see if it is sustainable. GK, defense and midfield will be competitive against the rest in the group at Suzuki Cup. Offense is a big question mark. Kyaw Ko Ko is still in rehab - hopefully comes back in 2013 with a vengeance. Good to see Yan Paing back, understand he is fully fit. He is good with the ball, can hold and at his best serve as a great 2nd striker. If we can get a good 60 min per game from him it will be a plus. The challenge is he cannot/does not run as much and won't do much in counters, although he can initiate them. But in set pieces, corners, and inside the 18 Yan Paing can put a lot of pressure on the defense, which may free up someone else. Plus at 6ft (?) and strong he is a good target. Never heard of Soe Kyaw Kyaw - maybe a youngster and being groomed? Kaung Si Thu, from what I have seen, is pretty good and has striker instincts (2 goals against Malyasia U22, and a goal against Cambodia at the Qualifiers in the recent games). Coach Hwa is rightly targeting a semifinal spot, an uphill task. Is it doable? Perhaps. To make it happen we must win the first game against Vietnam.
Myanmar vs Vietnam match 1st half: 2nd half: What do you guys think of the result? I think it is a good result for us.
Yea it is a good result for us. Now we have got a result against all of the Big-5 or whatever they call it in AFF Suzuki Cup/Tiger Cup - ASEAN Football Championship. We did beat Vietnam 3-2 in a friendly in Vietnam in about 2007, but I won't think about that. We've not "officially" beaten or drew against Singapore in AFF Suzuki Cup. Agu Casmir always scores against us. But we beat Singapore 2-1 at full-time of second-leg of the semi-final in 2004/05 Tiger Cup. But the match went on to extra-time due to a tie in aggregate and we lost the semi-final as a whole. So nobody remembers this second-leg full-time score as a victory. Oh well. I'm happy for this batch of players.
Watch the whole match. Myanmar seems to be pressured and could not make a simple pass. Hope they will regain the confidence in next match. Viet vs Philp match result is in our advantage, I think. If we can beat Philippine in the final match, there is a high chance that we will go to semi, but the same go for Philippine, so it is going to be tough match! Myanmar needs to fix their right back position. It is our weakest point since the game against J2 league club.
Hmm... Philippines 2-0 Myanmar. Yoma's analysis of the qualifiers is right. Myanmar can't score. Being able to move the ball around here and there is useless. We lack ideas. Our shooting, heading and decisions need to improve. Teams like Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia are more clinical in this area. The reason why it was only 2-0 is because we were able to stall time by moving the ball around and attacking (in vain). I don't know how Singapore lost to them twice but we lack a lethal attack. But to be fair, when so-called strong teams does not get a result, it's considered lost of form or bad day. If weak teams don't get a result, it's considered they're simply weak. That's a potential bias narrow-minded judgement by critics and fans that could come up after a game. Weak teams can be on bad form too. Weak teams could also be ravaged by injuries. So, to be fair on Myanmar, did we play on form? Can we play better? And it's a fact that we have our players injured. Kyaw Ko Ko and Kyaw Zayar Win could have killed off Vietnam, and could have had better ideas against Philippines. I don't want to make excuses because every team has injuries every now and then, but it's a fact that this is not a full Myanmar team. No matter what, Myanmar needs to improve.
Unfortunate, but predictable. Within our constraints we did not play badly. We created a couple of chances, but did not have the clinical finish. Kyaw Ko Ko in form was sorely missed. Kyi Lin will get better, right now tends to do too much on his own. Often times he was triple marked. One time he cut across from his left to the edge of the penalty box, got tripped, was falling, yet decided not to and was intercepted - ref was ready to blow a free kick right on top of the 18, but waived on playing the advantage rule. Need to create these chances we get them. Offensive third play for Myanmar was poor! I am optimistic that in a couple of years we will get better.
Saw 2013 AFC Cup pairing. Yangon seems to have a better chance than Ayeyawaddy to move to the next round.
Myanmar will host AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers in Myanmar in March. Teams : Myanmar , Guam , Taiwan and India
MNL 2013 kicked off last week with 12 teams compared to last year's 14. 2 were relegated and will join the newly created second division which kicks off in February. In my mind Yangon United is still the team to beat, although Yadanarbon (spent a lot), Ayeyawaddy, and Kanbawza will fight for the title. The new "M-2" league will have 8 teams (including the two relegated). What's heartening is that this league will have the Myanmar U-19 national team, similar to the Malaysian youths and Barca B in their respective lower leagues. Great place to hone their skills and keep the pipeline flowing. I think the set-up of M-2 is significant as it is a key criteria for joining AFC Champions league. Good to see U Zaw Zaw and the owners being aspirational!
The Philippines will be visiting Myanmar Feb. 6 for a friendly. They will apparently only be inviting a few of our European based players, to give the domestic based players more playing time and to maintain good relations with their clubs. Myanmar should have a good chance of winning this since they will be playing at home.
Pele - Timing is a little weird. There are MNL games w/e of 1/27 and 2/9, some key ones too. League then breaks until late March to prepare for the Challenge Cup. It is possible, though, that MNL skips the 2/9 games. Not sure which players Coach fields.
Same situation in the Philippines as well. The UFL starts in Feb 5th, but there is also the PFF Club Championship finals on Feb 2nd. So unless the clubs would allow their players to be released for national duty during that week, there won't be lots of time for the players to prepare. Good thing though that our qualifier group stage matches will fall on Fifa friendly dates. Another bad thing for the Philippines currently is the coaching situation as the PFF has yet to negotiate with Hans Weiss who has just been out of contract since this week.
The Philippines will be bringing their B or C team to the friendly in Myanmar. I expect the Myanmar team to win this game handily.
Pele - I wouldn't be so certain. At least two starters (including Kyi Lin) are hurt. Kyaw Ko Ko is back, but Yan Paing, Paing Soe were not called up. Coach has named a number of uncapped youngsters, remains to be seen if they get any minutes. He did however say team will play for result. If the front line plays well, Myanmar has a shot. Otherwise, a tie is most likely.
Myanmar 0-1 Philippines. Your team had a good game, to be honest, YomaTaung. Kyaw Ko Ko and Kyaw Zayar Win were both influential on attack, plus your defensive line is more compact compared to ours which was actually makeshift (two of our midfielders, Jason de Jong and Manny Ott were forced to play on the back as the regulars were out due to injury). But luck turned to our side because of the good performance of our Neil Etheridge and OJ Porteria, who scored the lone goal. Nevertheless your team had a good job putting our team in a hard time.
Thanks Stellarboy. Overall not bad for a practice match. But, at the end it is the goal that counts. And we seem to lack in that department. Hopefully, Coach will be able to figure out Kyi Lin/Kyaw Ko Ko combo to address our goal scoring drought - we've scored 1 in the last four Senior Team matches. There were a few new faces that I was not familiar with, so I am glad they were able to gain some experience. The goal was a beauty, it was the swerve and power that beat the goalie. Congrats.
Does anyone know if Coach will release the Yangon United players to play their AFC opener against Persibo tomorrow? I counted no less than 7 Yangon players in the national team. Don't know if it means anything, but recognized a few of them training with Yangon on Feb 24 in a photo.
Great win 3-0 against Persibo and the maiden one in AFC tourney, Kone ha-trick. I recognized 6 national team players on first 11; so they were indeed allowed to play. I think Kyi Lin, Kyaw Ko Ko, Yang Aung Win and Khin Mg Lwin will start for Myanmar in the Challenge Cup. Pyay Phyo Aung and Yazar Win Thein may not. David Htan was not on the lineup today, not sure if he has recovered from injury. Elsewhere Churchill Brother from India got a thumping against Kitchee in Hong Kong; East Bengal plays in Malaysia tomorrow. This is important as a good number of Indian national team players play in these teams and will (at least on paper) be the main opponent against us. Some are arriving as late as Feb 28. Advantage Myanmar?
Interesting - Kyaw Ko Ko not selected by Coach Hwa due to disciplinary reasons. Does anyone know what happened?
Congratulations Myanmar!! Though biased, I believe we were the better team today, both tactically and technically. Our passing was among the best I've seen in awhile. Kudos to Coach Hwa as things worked out as planned (or hoped). We were quite depleted, esp up front with Kyi Lin (primarily a left winger) playing as the lone striker in a 4-2-3-1 formation. I thought both David Htan and Paing Soe were not 100% fit, esp Paing. The fact that team got 50 min out of Paing Soe was commendable. Also, given the fitness level, Soe Min Oo gave his all for 40+ min (as Paing Soe's sub) which included the all important goal. Soe's insertion allowed Kyi Lin to move to his natural position in the left (in Paing's place) with Soe taking the lone striker's position. Don't know the name of India's right back (I thought he was the weak link in India's defense), but Kyi Lin was all over him. That right back space of India was actually a hole and our goal came from there. India played a lot of long balls, tried to isolate 1 v 1, and set plays. Only the latter worked with long throw-ins and free kicks - almost had a goal if not for a key Thiha's save. Myanmar continues to mature, but needs to be consistent EVERY game. Hopefully, striker Kyaw Ko Ko learns from his mistake, begs for forgiveness to be reinserted in the national team. My renewed respect for a disciplinarian Coach Hwa as he stuck to his guns and not include the gifted Ko Ko. But to get results against better teams in the final round of Challenge Cup we need him! Now let's get back to MNL, Asia Cup for Yangon and Ayeyawaddy, and gradually begin preparation in earnest for Challenge Cup Finals. Most importantly, players need to stay healthy!!
Hi, Does anyone have any Burma vs Iran football matches during 1960s or 1970s? I am buyer in case you have any video(s) from these encounters or any from AFC Asian Youth U-19 during 1970s featuring Iran National Team, leave me a message for this post is you have any video or email me: tommyakbari@gmail.com