By NYEIN SU WAI KYAW SOE | FRONTIER
MANDALAY — Myanmar came from behind to defeat Cambodia 4-1 in its opening game of the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup, a biennial football tournament contested by the national teams of Southeast Asia.
After going in at the half-time break 1-0 down, Myanmar came back to score four goals against Cambodia, which was coming off a loss to Malaysia in its opening match.
Nyein Su Wai Kyaw Soe | Frontier
Myanmar coach Mr Antoine Hey said his side’s poor performance in the first half was due to nerves.
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“It was definitely not our best match in the first 45 minutes; we could see that the players were a little bit nervous, they were shaky and feeling the pressure,” he said in an interview posted to the AFF Suzuki Cup 2018 website.
Nyein Su Wai Kyaw Soe | Frontier
“[At half-time], I just encouraged them. The players were tired and simply not used to this environment and atmosphere. They were a bit locked, so we encouraged them and made tactical changes that we were planning before the match.
“You hope it’s going to work and once we scored the first goal you could see the burden fell off their shoulders and they felt more comfortable with the situation.”
Bo Bo Hlaing scored on the hour mark and subsequent goals from Aung Than Htet, Aung Si Thu and a second for Bo Bo Hlaing secured victory for Myanmar, leaving it second in its group behind Malaysia.
Nyein Su Wai Kyaw Soe | Frontier
Myanmar will travel to Vientiane to face Laos, which is bottom of the five-team group, on November 16.
