Myanmar to play defending champions Japan in 2022 AFC Women’s Cup

The final round of the 2022 AFC Women’s Cup will be held in India, with Myanmar set to take on defending champions Japan in their opening group game.
The tournament will start today and the Myanmar team will play against the defending champions Japan on 21 January at 2:30 pm Myanmar Standard Time.
This is the third meeting between Myanmar and Japan in the group stage of the Asian Cup, and Japan trounced Myanmar in all matches.
Japan beat Myanmar 7-0 in 2003 and 8-0 in 2010. The Japanese women’s team has already won the Women’s World Cup, so it will be different from the Myanmar team and they will have to try not to lose without conceding a goal.
The Myanmar women’s team started training in the second week of November and has more than two months to prepare.
The Myanmar women’s team had planned to go to Thailand for training before the tournament but was cancelled due to COVID-19 disease.
U Tin Myint Aung, the head coach of the Myanmar women’s team, has re-selected 19 of the 23 players who competed in the tournament and is a combination of senior players and young players. The first group matches will be played on 20 and 21 January.
Myanmar vs Japan, South Korea vs Viet Nam, Australia vs Indonesia and Thailand vs the Philippines matches will be played on 21 January.—Ko Nyi Lay/GNLM