29 July
IN preparation for the second round of the Asian qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup, the national football teams of My-anmar and China will play a friendly match on 30 August at the Xianghe National Football Training Center in Langfang.
According to a statement issued by the Myanmar Foot-ball Federation, the friendly match against China will be played in the absence of fans.
In their previous meeting in an international friendly match on 26 May, 2018, Myan-mar had lost to China 0-1. This year, team Myanmar, headed by head coach Miodrag Radulovic, won a friendly match against the Singapore national team on 11 June, with a score of 2-1.
The friendly matches are aimed at helping team Myan-mar gain experience for the World Cup qualifiers by playing against the top Asian football teams.
In the second round of the Asian qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup, Myanmar has been placed in Group F. In the group stage matches, Myanmar will face Japan, touted as Asia’s best performers in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, who were de-feated by Belgium in the Round of 16.
Myanmar will also play Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Mongolia in the same group.
Myanmar will take on Mon-golia on 5 September, Japan on 10 September, Kyrgyzstan on 10 October and Tajikistan on 14 November.—Lynn Thit (Tgi)