Thursday, October 15, 2015
THE national Under-19 football team’s (Tabuan Under-19) manager Tamat Hj Budin stressed that Brunei needs to play more international matches to improve.
The sultanate ended their Group G campaign at the 2016 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under-19 Championship qualifiers last week without a single win, conceding a total of 18 goals while failing to find the net even once during the Sept 28-Oct 5 tournament held in Yangon, Myanmar.
“The players showed good spirit and commitment during training, but I have to say they are still lacking match experience - especially at the international level,” he told The Brunei Times last week.
“Other teams have been playing in a lot of international championships and friendly matches so they are familiar with the environment, and we need to follow that so that our players will know what to expect and will be ready next time,” he added.
According to the manager, not all of the players were from the national Under-19 football team.
Around nine players were not able to join the competition due to their O-Level examinations, so they were replaced by players from the national Under-15 football team just 15 days before the competition.
“Most of our players are really young and only started to play together recently, so it was difficult to play against teams that have been playing together for the past three to four years,” said Tamat.
“Even both of our goalkeepers were from the Under-15 squad, and the goals we conceded were mostly from their mistakes.
“There is a lot of improvement that needs to be made in terms of teamwork, passing skills, ball control and mentality if the players are to compete at this level.
“It is really important that the squad we have keep on playing together so they can build good teamwork,” concluded the manager.
Brunei opened the tournament with a 4-0 loss to Timor Leste on October 28 followed by another defeat to Myanmar with the same scoreline two days later.
They lost their third match of the tournament after they got thrashed 5-0 by Group G leaders Vietnam last Friday.
The nation concluded the tournament in disappointing fashion after they suffered a 5-0 defeat to Hong Kong in their final group match.
The 10 group winners joined the five best second-placed sides in the group join hosts Bahrain in qualifying for the tournament proper which will run from Oct 13-30, 2016.
Qatar won the last edition of the tournament in 2014 after beating North Korea 1-0 in the final in Myanmar.
The Brunei Times
The sultanate ended their Group G campaign at the 2016 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under-19 Championship qualifiers last week without a single win, conceding a total of 18 goals while failing to find the net even once during the Sept 28-Oct 5 tournament held in Yangon, Myanmar.
“The players showed good spirit and commitment during training, but I have to say they are still lacking match experience - especially at the international level,” he told The Brunei Times last week.
“Other teams have been playing in a lot of international championships and friendly matches so they are familiar with the environment, and we need to follow that so that our players will know what to expect and will be ready next time,” he added.
According to the manager, not all of the players were from the national Under-19 football team.
Around nine players were not able to join the competition due to their O-Level examinations, so they were replaced by players from the national Under-15 football team just 15 days before the competition.
“Most of our players are really young and only started to play together recently, so it was difficult to play against teams that have been playing together for the past three to four years,” said Tamat.
“Even both of our goalkeepers were from the Under-15 squad, and the goals we conceded were mostly from their mistakes.
“There is a lot of improvement that needs to be made in terms of teamwork, passing skills, ball control and mentality if the players are to compete at this level.
“It is really important that the squad we have keep on playing together so they can build good teamwork,” concluded the manager.
Brunei opened the tournament with a 4-0 loss to Timor Leste on October 28 followed by another defeat to Myanmar with the same scoreline two days later.
They lost their third match of the tournament after they got thrashed 5-0 by Group G leaders Vietnam last Friday.
The nation concluded the tournament in disappointing fashion after they suffered a 5-0 defeat to Hong Kong in their final group match.
The 10 group winners joined the five best second-placed sides in the group join hosts Bahrain in qualifying for the tournament proper which will run from Oct 13-30, 2016.
Qatar won the last edition of the tournament in 2014 after beating North Korea 1-0 in the final in Myanmar.
The Brunei Times
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