Abu Dhabi: UAE junior team coach Dr Abdulla Misfer has warned his boys to expect tactical changes when his side takes on hosts Myanmar in the AFC U-19 Championship quarter-final at the Youth Training Centre, Yangon on Friday.
“The approach will be very different for a knockout match where tactics change because of the required outcome,” said Misfer, whose side pulled out an impressive 4-1 victory in the must-win game over Indonesia. They forced a 1-1 draw with Australia in the opener and followed it with a last gasp equaliser in the 2-2 draw against Uzbekistan, who qualified after finishing second in the group.
“With every game, you choose tactics that are appropriate for your opponent and the situation,” added Misfer, whose main worry, more than their opponent, was whether his side would recover well for this outing.
“One of the most difficult things we face is our recovery; we only have two days to rest, and one of those was spent travelling from Nay Pyi Taw. Only having 24 hours to recover is the main problem we will face; our opponents have had good three days break,” felt Misfer.
One can expect plenty of support for the hosts but Misfer was confident that his wards would rise to the occasion like in the previous matches.
“We do not fear the crowd though, we look forward to playing in front of spectators, and the chance to play against Myanmar in front of a packed crowd is what we’ve been waiting for,” revealed Misfer.
Myanmar made it through to the quarters after they managed to finish runners-up on goal-difference. Their opening match against Yemen ended in a 0-0 stalemate but they managed to register an emphatic 3-0 victory over Group A winners Thailand before losing their last group fixture 2-0 to pre-tournament group favourites Iran.
Myanmar’s German coach Gerd Zeise labelled the contest as the host’s biggest game for maybe a century.
Despite scraping through to the quarters, the White Angels are now just one game away from their first semi-final berth in the competition since 1971. What makes the contest more exciting is the fact that top four teams from this tournament will directly qualify for the 2015 U-20 World Cup in New Zealand. It gives Myanmar their first opportunity to create history and one can expect them to give it everything.
In other quarterfinal encounters, Japan take on DPR Korea, Qatar meet China while Thailand face-off with Uzbekistan.
