MYANMAR footballers will square off against a confident Thai side playing on home soil in the group stage of the Southeast Asian Games this December, according to the draw made on October 17.

The Myanmar men’s side, who were in Foshan, China over the weekend for the first leg of their World Cup qualifier against the Chinese on October 21, will also meet Indonesia and Cambodia in Group A.

It is Thailand though who will pose the greatest challenge in Korat, northeastern Thailand, as the hosts push for their eighth consecutive SEA Games gold.

Thongsuk Sampahangsit, the Thai men’s national team coach, last week admitted the pressure was on his side to secure victory for fans at home.
“In the SEA Games, all of the associations and Thai fans expect a gold medal,” he said after the draw. “People don’t care if you prepare well or not, they just want you to win.

“Every team is tough because they all want to beat Thailand,” he added.
Vietnam, the runners-up at the last SEA Games in the Philippines in 2005, will be joined in Group B by Malaysia, Laos and Singapore.

The way the draw works, ASEAN Cup winners Singapore would not meet Myanmar until late in the Games.

Malaysia, who beat Myanmar 3-1 in the Merdeka Cup tournament in Kuala Lumpur in August, are the other main threat to Myanmar’s run to gold.
In the women’s competition, Myanmar – who lost 1-0 to Vietnam in the final of the 2005 edition in Manila – are grouped with Thailand and Malaysia, while Vietnam will join Laos and Philippines for an easy run in the other group.

Myanmar lifted the ASEAN women’s championship in Yangon last month and stand a better shot of securing gold for the country than the men, who head to Thailand under the guidance of Brazilian coach Marcos Falopa. He is the national side's first foreign coach since Ivan Kolev of Bulgaria was dropped after the Myanmar men crashed out in the group stage of the 2005 SEA Games.