AFC U-19 Championship: Group A preview

AFC – YANGON, Myanmar coach Gerd Zeise called on home fans to fill Thuwunna Youth Training Centre Stadium in Yangon and to make the most of the country hosting this year’s AFC U-19 Championship ahead of their Group A opener against Yemen on Thursday.

Hosts of the AFC U-19 Championship for the first time, Myanmar have not played in the finals of the tournament since 1976 when they competed as Burma. But their historical pedigree in the competition is strong, winning the tournament seven times between 1961 and 1970.

Yangon, the country’s most populous city, will play host to all of the home nation’s games if they are to lift the trophy in a tournament that also offers four qualification berths for the FIFA U-20 World Cup, to be held in New Zealand next year.

And home advantage is something that Myanmar’s German coach is very much counting on to lift his side to new heights.

“I hope the stadium is full, in Vietnam [for the AFF U-19 Championship last month] we played against 40,000 fans from Hanoi, if we have 30,000 here, of course it will be an advantage,” said Zeise (pictured).

“We can promise the Myanmar spectators they will see good football.”

The promise of Group A providing an exciting spectacle was repeated by Iran coach Ali Doustimehr with his team kicking off the tournament in Thursday’s earlier game in Group A against Thailand.

“We are sure to have some great matches in a very exciting group with all the teams boasting coaches who are very experienced at this tasking level of football,” said Doustimehr, who saw his side crash out in the quarter-finals of the 2012 edition.

“We began preparing for this tournament a year ago and have practiced in three or four tournaments over that period in the hope of bettering our result from last time.”

Opposite number Sasom Pobprasert, though, said that Thailand’s preparations for the tournament had not run so smoothly.

“We have had many problems, many players have returned to their clubs, so we were not allowed to hold a camp, our camp was only one week long,” said Thailand coach Sasom.

“Myanmar has had four years to prepare; Thailand, only four months.”

To compound matters, Sasom will be without the pacey Santipharp Channgom for his side’s opener due to injury, but he is hopeful that the forward will return in time for the crucial tie Matchday Two tie versus Myanmar on Saturday.

Finally, Yemen round out the group and will provide the opposition for the hosts in their opening game.

And the Gulf Nation are hoping for an improvement on their last visit to the finals in the 2010 competition, where they were eliminated in the group stage.

“This is a strong group but we are hopeful of reaching the knockout stages,” said Yemen coach Ahmed Qasem.

“This is the fourth time we have played this tournament; I hope that we can achieve something this time.”