Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
Pictures: Courtesy of AFF/ Thai FA
NATIONAL under-15 football coach Izzat Omar felt that there are plenty of positives from their recently concluded AFF Under-15 Championship campaign in Thailand.
In what was their first international game, Brunei started out with an 8-0 thrashing at the hands of Malaysia on July 28.
They followed that result with a 7-1 loss to Thailand two days later but improved for a 3-0 defeat against Laos last Thursday.
The Young Wasps then ensured that they will not leave without a point after playing out to a 1-1 draw against Cambodia on Saturday before completing their campaign with a 4-0 setback against Australia yesterday.
“Overall, I’m happy to see improvements by our players from game to game as they slowly built up their confidence as part of their development progress,” said Izzat in an interview with BruSports News yesterday.
“We were able to compete against Laos, Cambodia and Australia with a strong team performance eventhough we lost by a big margin against Malaysia and Thailand in the first two matches.
“The boys learnt a lot from this championship. They also showed good commitment and excellent team spirit,” he added.
“Other than that, it is amazing to see strong determination from our youth players to compete and finish the competition with high discipline,” continued Izzat.
The national under-15 coach also highlighted that it was a good way to gauge their level against their ASEAN counterparts.
When asked on what’s next for his charges, Izzat replied: “From this championship we can identify our strengths & weaknesses. First things first, we will prepare the team for the upcoming AFC U16 Championship Qualifier 2020 Jakarta, Indonesia in September.
“Moving forward this is the team that will represent Brunei National A team in the future.
“Hence, I myself have to work harder in improving this team in all aspects and get everything in place,” he added.
Izzat was also thankful to be given the opportunity and responsibility to be head the team at such a stage.
“It’s an honour for me to be appointed as the head coach for our youth national team,” said Izzat.
“It is definitely a first big step for me to be at this level. I have to admit that I have learnt so much in this championship and that will be put to good use for upcoming tournaments.
“This is my development process to gain more experience and knowledge for international level and of course that will help me to contribute more to Brunei Darussalam’s football,” he added.
“Also, I would like to humbly thank those who believed and supported us throughout this championship. Your support gives us strength and motivation to strive for success.
“It’s a long journey ahead, but its moments like this that makes me stronger and better,” he concluded.
