YANGON (30 Dec 2022) – A late strike from captain Maung Maung Lwin gave Myanmar a hard-fought 2-2 draw against Laos in a Group B tie of the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup 2022 this evening at the Thuwunna Stadium.
The drawn game gave Myanmar and Laos their first point of the competition with the former set to take on Vietnam in their final game of the group on 3 January 2023 in Hanoi while for the latter, they have completed their fixtures of four matches.
“We are not happy with the result but we are glad for the one point. We created a lot of chances and we really wanted to win this game at home,” said Myanmar head coach Antoine Hey.
While it was Myanmar who created the early chances through Kyaw Min Oo, it was to be Laos who went ahead in the 13th minute when Phoutthavong Sangvilay squared the ball in for the unmarked captain Soukaphone Vongchiengkham to blast the ball in.
But in front of at least 5,000 fans that also included Myanmar Football Federation (MFF), President Zaw Zaw, the Myanmar lads were not about to give up.
And it took them just two minutes to find the equaliser when Hein Zeyar Lin played a short cross for Kyaw Min Oo to place his header beyond the reach of Laos custodian Xaysavath.
Two minutes into the second half and Laos once again put their noses in front with a superb running finish from Ekkamai Ratxachak from the edge of the Myanmar box.
A flurry of chances later saw no change to the scoreline up until deep in injury time when Maung Maung stepped up for the freekick as he swung to the right of Xaysavath for the well-earned equaliser.
“We should have won the game but we could not keep them from drawing tonight. It was a superb equaliser from Maung Maung, who had a fabulous night,” said Laos head coach Michael Weiss.
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