LET THE REAL GAMES BEGIN

Playing in the first semi-final of the afternoon with kick-off at 3.30pm will be Thailand taking on Vietnam while in the later match of the afternoon at 6pm, powerhouse Australia will be entertaining hosts Myanmar A.

Both matches will be played at the Thuwunna Youth Training Centre.

Thailand, who will be playing hosts to next month’s AFC U16 Championship in Bangkok, have been on a low profile with team manager Dr. Kasom Chanawongse preferring to heap the accolades on his opponents even though his chargers had won Group A in commanding fashion.

Enroute, they blasted Indonesia 15-0, held Myanmar A scoreless and then pummelling the Malaysians 17-0.

“We played good teams here in our first three matches,” claimed Dr. Kasom.

“And I’m happy with the performance of the team who have been disciplined in their approach to every game. They played to tactics and they work as a unit. It will be the same mental approach for the semi-finals.”

For Vietnam, their confidence must have been shattered following their 5-0 loss to Australia in their second group match.

This even though they had started the tournament strongly with a 5-0 win over Myanmar B and then an 11-0 drubbing of the Philippines in their final group match.

“We will have to play a lot better (against Thailand) than what we have shown against Australia,” said Tran Ngoc Thai Tuan, the Vietnam team manager.

“Thailand are a strong team but since we are already in the semi-finals, there is no reason why we should not look to a place in the final.”

With several quality players at their disposal, Australia have played their favourites tag to the hilt – sidestepping the Philippines 14-0, putting aside Vietnam 5-0 and then blasting 12-0 past Myanmar B with several reserves.

“Our mind are already towards the AFC U16 Championship next month,” said Robert Hooker, the head coach for Australia.

“I expect Myanmar A will be a lot harder to play against as compared to Myanmar B. But there will be no change to our gameplan.”

Hosts Myanmar A had wanted to avoid taking on Australia at this early stage but their failure to beat Thailand following several clear chances meant that they will have to pull out all the stops in front of their home fans.

“It has made our chance of playing in the final a little harder and even though, people might not give us a chance against Australia, I would like to point out that we will start the game scoreless which means that we still have the chance to do something for ourselves.

“We need that sense of belief.”

FIXTURES

Oct 16: Semi-finals – Thailand vs Vietnam (3.30pm), Australia vs Myanmar A (6.00pm)

Oct 18: Final