YANGON (18 Nov 2018) – Football fans in Myanmar have big dreams. They want to see their team, who have made the semi-finals only twice in 11 editions of the AFF Suzuki Cup, go all the way this year.
But before they get ahead of themselves, they must amass enough points in the group stage to make the cut. This means they must get some points off either Vietnam or Malaysia in their remaining fixtures. They already have six points from wins over Cambodia and Laos but it’s not yet enough to pull through.
On Tuesday, Myanmar will face Vietnam, which is effectively their first major test this year. Their performance will show just how they stack up against one of the top teams. Their coach Antoine Hey was very clear he expects a good result. “We expect to win in front of a full stadium,” Hey commented after his team’s hard-fought win over Laos. “We want to make the dream come true.”
While it will be a tough, Myanmar will be aiming for full points which will ensure their place in the last four. With a win, Myanmar will not be under pressure when they battle Malaysia in the last group stage tie next Saturday. Myanmar also has revenge as an incentive to beat Vietnam as they had crashed 2-1 at home in the opening match of AFF Suzuki Cup 2016.
Hey has come concerns over his team’s poor starts which saw them concede to both Cambodia and Laos before recovering to win. “We used a lot of energy to get back into the game. We won’t be able to do this all the time, we must learn fast from this and be better prepared as we will be up against tough opponents next.”
Myanmar were semi-finalists in 2004 and again in 2016 and after two wins, are well on the way to not only their third semi-finals but possibly their first-ever final appearance.
