THE Myanmar men’s national U-16 football team held South Korea to a scoreless draw on October 9 in its first match of the qualifiers for the 2010 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-16 Championships.

The team is playing in Group G, which also includes Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, North Korea and South Korea. Matches are scheduled from October 9 to 19 in Thailand.

The winner and runner-up of each of the seven six-team groups, as well as the best third-placed side overall, will advance to the 2010 AFC U16 Championship finals.

Despite the tough opposition in their group, Myanmar’s coaches and players said the team had high expectations going into the qualifying tournament.

The sense of optimism was boosted by the introduction in late August of a new fitness regimen for the U-16 players, overseen by head coach U Tin Myo Aung and fitness coach Mr Peter Jakobsen from Denmark.

“For the past five weeks we’ve brought in more weight training, balance training, speed work, tolerance training and teamwork exercises. The players have responded very well,” Mr Jakobsen said before the tournament.

Midfielder Ye Ko Oo said the new training was very hard but he enjoyed knowing he was becoming a better player. “We have better fitness, better stamina and more mental toughness than before. We’ve been winning local matches but we’re not satisfied. Now we want to work hard to qualify for the AFC U-16 Championships,” he said.

Head coach U Tin Myo Aung said he has seen a vast improvement in the players during preparations for the qualifiers. “They are much better in speed and physical form. They have much more strength when they’re fighting for the ball. Our players have better discipline and training than other teams. They’re behaving professionally even though they’re young,” he said.

“Now all the players, the coaches, we all think that in this tournament we’re going to beat North and South Korea,” Mr Jakobsen said. “And that’s important, to go out and think we can win.”

The top four countries in the U-16 Championship finals will qualify for the 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup.