Burma’s under-19 (U-19) football team beat the United Arab Emirates (UAE) 1-0 on 17 October, qualifying the team for next year’s U-20 World Cup and the Asian Cup semi-finals.
Neither country managed to score a goal during the first half, but in the second half Burma scored what turned out to be the game’s decisive goal when Than Paing kicked a close-range shot past the UAE goalkeeper at the 52-minute mark.
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The victory means that Burma’s U-19 team now advances to the Asian Cup semi-finals and qualifies for the 2015 U-20 World Cup in New Zealand—the first time a Burmese team has qualified for the World Cup since 1972.
Prior to the UAE match, Burma played against Yemen, Thailand and Iran in matches at the group stage.