MANILA, Philippines — It is amazing what a favorable result for a debut can do.
In 2006, Myanmar fielded its first ever women’s national futsal team, and it gained a massive 7-2 result against Brunei. Following that outcome, Myanmar poured in resources to improve and bring up to speed their futsal program.
The result is making the AFC Futsal Championships twice and a second-, third- and two fourth-place finishes in the AFF Futsal Championship since 2016.
From November 16-21, Myanmar hopes to build on what has been a favorable year so far when it participates in the 2024 edition of the tournament, which will be held at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City, Manila.
In seven matches since the past summer, Myanmar gained three wins over China, Kuwait and Afghanistan while drawing with Vietnam. One of those losses was 5-0 to powerhouse Thailand. And that is a pretty good result considering when Myanmar first participated in Futsal, it got hammered by Thailand, 22-3.
It is also capable of dishing out their own brand of pain when they inflicted a 25-0 beating on the Philippines in 2017.
For this tournament in Manila, what head coach Bunlert Chanlerwong hopes for is consistency that will allow them to compete day after day.
Myanmar will be thrust into the spotlight on opening day, November 16, it battles host Philippines in the main match at 7 p.m.
The following day, Myanmar opens the day’s action by locking horns with Vietnam at 4 p.m.
The Burmese are back in the main game of November 18 when they battle tournament favorite Thailand at 7 p.m.
In their final match of the single round robin tournament, Myanmar faces off against Indonesia at 4 p.m. on November 19.
Based on the results, the battle for third takes place on the final day of competition on November 21 at 4 a.m., with the championship scheduled for 7 p.m.