A field of dreams: Myanmar return to the international fold

One shot on target and one goal. Than Paing’s finish against the United Arab Emirates on October 17 resulted in the first Myanmar team ever qualify for a FIFA World Cup.

Yes, it was the Under 20s World Cup to be held in New Zealand next May and June, but that shouldn’t diminish the significance. No, it does not mean an instant return to the glory days of the ‘Golden Age’ when Myanmar won the AFC Youth Championship seven times between 1961 and 1970, but it is a step in the right direction.

Between 1974 and 2006 Myanmar barely entered international competition, withdrawing or not entering qualification for the major senior tournaments, entering only the occasional regional or youth competition. Their isolation on the sporting landscape became symbolic of their isolation on the wider political map.

In the home team’s games played at the Thuwunna Youth Training Centre Stadium in Yangon, Myanmar attracted a packed house for their quarter-final and semi-final play-offs as well as 20,000 plus crowds for their group games against Thailand and Iran.

The largest crowd in the 2012 version of the competition; a tournament held in the UAE, a country attempting to create a reputation as a destination for the top sporting events, did not break the 6,000 mark.

In 1972, a team represented Burma in the Munich Olympics; they played under a German coach; the legendary Bert Trautmann.

Having once again accepted the direction of non-domestic coaches, Myanmar have returned to the world stage under the guidance of Gerd Zeise; another Teutonic tutor.

Last year’s Southeast Asian Games was touted to have almost as much symbolic importance to Myanmar’s return to the international fold as this year’s chairmanship of ASEAN. Arguably to the man on the street, or the man on the terrace, it had more.

Myanmar’s visit to New Zealand next May, might attract just as much attention.

This Article first appeared in Mizzima Weekly.