AFF Cup 2024, Myanmar - Indonesia: Unpredictable results, likely to have surprises

* PRE-MATCH PREDICTIONS

At the AFF Cup 2024, the Indonesian team is in Group B with the Vietnamese team, Myanmar, the Philippines and Laos. In terms of strength, the Vietnamese and Indonesian teams are considered the two teams with the highest chance of advancing.

However, right from the first match, the Indonesian team's ability was questioned. Most of their naturalized players were not released by their home teams, forcing coach Shin Tae-yong to put his faith in young players (18/26 of whom have never played for the national team). With an average age of only 20.3 - the youngest in the tournament, Indonesia lacked the courage and experience of the players competing in the third qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup.

Indonesia team will be missing many key players in AFF Cup 2024

Pratama Arhan (born in 2001) and Asnawi Mangkualam (born in 1999) are two players over 21 years old on the Indonesian team, but both play in the defender position, making it difficult to create a breakthrough. Meanwhile, naturalized striker Rafael Struick, although highly rated, will certainly not play in the match against Myanmar because he is not physically fit. Therefore, all expectations will now weigh heavily on the shoulders of Marselino Ferdinan - the player who just scored a double against Saudi Arabia in the third qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup, helping Indonesia win 2-0 (19.11).

At a press conference on December 8, coach Shin Tae-yong himself admitted: “Indonesia’s opening match at the 2024 AFF Cup against Myanmar will be very difficult. In this tournament, Indonesia’s opponents are all of good quality. Meanwhile, we only brought a young squad to participate to help the players gain experience before the U.23 Asian qualifiers and the SEA Games next year. I hope the players will train hard and try their best to play in the matches to achieve the desired result of passing the group stage.”

On the other hand, the Myanmar team also entered the AFF Cup 2024 with instability. Including the AFF Cup 2024, Myanmar has participated in the biggest playground in Southeast Asia for the team 14 times. However, the best achievement was only reaching the semi-finals twice and finishing 4th overall in 2004 and 2016. Recently, the Myanmar team also showed weakness when facing Indonesia - losing 3 consecutive matches. In the most recent encounter between the two teams in November 2021, Myanmar also lost heavily to their opponent 1-4.

Myanmar team (red shirt) lost to Indonesia in the last 3 clashes

In mid-September 2024, Myanmar fired coach Michael Feichtenbeiner. Coach Myo Hlaing Win was the chosen one and he only had about 2 months to prepare for the tournament. The pressure on coach Myo Hlaing Win was even greater when the Myanmar Football Federation announced their goal of reaching the semi-finals. Mizzima News assessed that the group of players currently playing in Thailand, including Maung Maung Lwin, Lwin Moe Aung, Win Naing Tun and Than Paing, will play an important role in deciding Myanmar's success or failure at the 2024 AFF Cup.

“Myanmar’s goal is to get 1 point in the opening match against Indonesia. If we are lucky, we hope to get 3 points. After that, Myanmar will try to get 6 points in the two matches against the Philippines and Laos, before facing Vietnam in the final match of the group stage. If we get 6-7 points in the first three matches, the match against Vietnam will decide Myanmar’s fate. We will prepare carefully for the strategy in the 2024 AFF Cup,” said coach Myo Hlaing Win.

Asean Mitsubishi Electric Cup 2024 is broadcast live and in full on FPT Play, at: http://fptplay.vn

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/aff-cup-2024-myanmar-indonesia-ket-qua-kho-luong-de-co-bat-ngo-185241209150141813.htm