Brunei fall to Myanmar, out of contention for AFC U-23 C’Ships berth

Caption: Brunei (yellow) and Myanmar (red) in action during their Group F encounter at the AFC Under-23 Championship. Picture: Courtesy of AFC

Ak Fauzi Pg Salleh
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

THE national under-23 football team fell 3-0 to hosts Myanmar in the AFC Under-23 Championship Group F match at the Thuwunna Stadium in Yangon last night.

Brunei have yet to record any points in the group, sitting third ahead of bottom-placed Singapore, who lost 7-0 to Australia in an earlier game.

Both Myanmar and Australia have two wins each and will face off tomorrow to decide the group winner.

Myanmar got in front in the 20th minute through Nyein Chan Aung and Brunei suffered a second blow just before the break as defender Naing Lin Tun hit the second.

In addition, Brunei were down to 10-men after Mohd Aznawi Syazni was sent off in first half injury time.

Myanmar dictated terms and Chan Aung got his second of the match in the 61st minute to make it 3-0, as the hosts got a morale booster ahead of the Australia tie.

National football coach Kwon Oh-son. Picture: Courtesy of AFC

Brunei head coach Kwon Oh-son admitted that his team were second best against the experienced Myanmar side on the night.

"Myanmar have the more experienced players," said Kwon after the match as quoted on the AFC website.

"Congratulations to them… our game and playing skills did improve but they (Myanmar) had several key players who were running the game.

"Hopefully, our players will learn from this experience. We will fight even harder in our last match,” he added.

Brunei, who are made up of the same side to compete at the SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur, will close their campaign tomorrow against Singapore.

"It is still a great opportunity for us as a team to gain this kind of international experience," continued Kwon.

"We promise to deliver a better performance in the SEA (Southeast Asian) Games.

"We will learn from our mistakes and improve and learn for our future." added the South Korean.

The qualifiers comprise of 39 teams from across Asia divided into 10 groups.

The group winners and five best second-placed teams will progress to next year’s AFC Under-23 Championship in China from January 9-27.

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