As 2024 is coming to an end and 2025 is about to enter, I would like to take a look back at the exciting events that happened in Myanmar football in the past 10 years. Things from 2014 and 2015. When Myanmar U-19 team reached the semi-finals of the Asian U-19 Championship and qualified for the World Cup, and when they were competing in the U-20 World Cup.

Coach Geoffrey Derick has become a coach to talk about, but he was not that well-known when he first arrived. I remember that when he was in charge of the U-19 generation, he did not get good support, as I was working for a sports journal at the time. He started building this team from the ground up, despite the general shortcomings of the training ground and the poor conditions that every Myanmar national youth team faces before success.

It is worth noting that during a tournament, the team manager refused to feed the players lunch or dinner because they had already eaten the food served on the plane. Coach Geoffrey Friedrich himself protested and then fed the players. I remember exactly what I wrote about this news as a journalist at the time, and it has been 10 years since then, so I am not sure whether it was lunch or dinner. This means that the U-19 team was not complete at the beginning.

Than Paing, who scored the only winning goal for the UAE to qualify for the U-20 World Cup, was not a key player in the U-19 team at the beginning. At that time, there was a player who played with him in the team's attack, but he was later excluded from the team due to disciplinary reasons. His name is not mentioned here. Later, he returned to the national team.

The turning point for the U-19 team was the Brunei Darussalam Cup in August 2014. There, Myanmar was drawn in the same group as Thailand, the Philippines, Laos, and East Timor, and won 4-4 to advance to the next round. They became noticeable after beating Malaysia 1-0 in the semi-finals and Vietnam 1-0 in the final. By this time, the support had started to change.

Shortly after, in September, they played 19 more matches. They were drawn in the same group as Thailand and Indonesia, and won both of their matches to advance to the first round. Group B was a tight group with Vietnam, Australia, and Japan. Japan and Vietnam advanced to the next round.

Myanmar faced Vietnam, but this time Vietnam took revenge by scoring a goalless draw and losing 4-1. They lost to Thailand again in the third-place match. It is important to note that Myanmar did not qualify for the U-19 Asian Cup after going through the qualifiers. The host country qualified. Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam qualified through the qualifiers.

Myanmar was drawn in the same group as Thailand, Yemen and Iran in the U-19 Asian Cup, and drew with Yemen, won against Thailand and lost against Iran to advance to the quarterfinals. After reaching the semifinals, they qualified for the U-20 World Cup. There is no need to talk about that match. They defended the entire match with Than Paing blocking a pass from Nay Pyi Taw’s pass and securing a place in the World Cup. The semifinals against Qatar were much better than this match.

It is worth noting that Minamito, who played for Japan in the U-19 Asian Cup, is a player who has played for Liverpool and now plays for Monaco. At the World Cup, Myanmar U-20 team was drawn in the same group as hosts New Zealand, USA and Ukraine. In the opening match, they played against USA. Yan Naing Oo scored the opening goal but lost 2-1.

In the second match, Ukraine held Ukraine to a 0-0 draw in the first half, but in the second half, they conceded goals in quick succession, making it 6-0. The same was true in the final match. Although Aung Thu opened the match with a beautiful goal, New Zealand scored 5 goals with their strength and stamina.

Before this, losing Nayin Aung to injury was a big blow, and only 11 of the starting 11 were good and the substitutes were a bit different. However, Htaik Htaik Aung, Nanda Kyaw, Kyaw Min Oo, Nayin Aung, Maung Maung Soe, Than Paing, Maung Maung Lwin, Aung Thu, Nan Wai Min, Yan Naing Oo, It is true that this generation produced a group of players such as Myo Tun and Thiha Htet Aung.

However, as is the custom in Myanmar football, the failure to produce consistently and the disintegration of the team when the team reached the big team led to the collapse of the team.

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