AUSTRALIA won the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Women’s U-16 Championship 2009 on October 18 with a commanding 8-0 victory over Thailand in the final at Thuwanna Stadium.

The win was a fitting finish to a tournament Australia dominated, scoring a massive 45 goals and conceding just one, in their 6-1 semi final win over Myanmar “A”.

While the final wasn’t Australia’s closest encounter on the scoreboard, the clash with Thailand was for long periods an even battle.

Following a tight first half in which Australia managed just the one goal, through Brittany Whitfield in the 30th minute, the floodgates opened late in the second period. Caitlin Foord’s 58th-minute strike was the first of seven Australian goals in the final 35 minutes of the match, with Samantha Kerr (66’, 81’), Heidi Makrillos (74’), Teigen Allen (87’), Caitlin Foord (88’) and Emily Van Egmond (90’) all getting their names on the scoresheet.

Australian coach Robert Hooker attributed his side’s strong second-half showing to better fitness.

“Thailand played pretty well and showed creativity in midfield. And their number nine player (Rattiyakorn Pra-Ang) is certainly a dangerous one,” Mr Hooker said.

“The first half was very close for both teams because Thailand was technically good. But we are a little bit better in fitness and strength and we could dominate our opposition in the second half,” he said.

But he said the Australian players now needed to work on improving their technical ability.

“I accept our players have a huge size advantage over players from other countries in this competition. We have a natural advantage in that respect. But the problem with Australian football is technically we are still not up there with the best teams.

We need to concentrate on improving technically if we are to get further success.”

Before the final, Vietnam defeated Myanmar “A” 3-0 in the third-place playoff, consigning the hosts to fourth.

Myanmar coach U Win Myint Thwin said his players were disappointed to miss out on the bronze medal.

“My players want to get at least a bronze, especially given they were playing in front of their home fans. We tried not to put any pressure on them but I think they were a bit anxious and that was part of the reason why they didn’t play so well against Vietnam. They also seemed a bit tired because they gave everything against Australia in the semi final match,” U Win Myint Thwin said.