Myanmar glory

The winning Myanmar line-up, who beat Vietnam on penalties

I was hoping for a cracking game when Vietnam faced Myanmar in the 2nd BIDC Cup semi-final last night but I was sadly disappointed and the game was way below my expectation, with Vietnam a shadow of the teams they usually enter into competitions, whilst Myanmar threw a party at the end of the game that would've graced any World Cup Final, let alone the BIDC Cup semi. As you might've guessed, Myanmar won the game, after a penalty shoot-out and boy, did they love beating their old enemy. Goalkeeper Pyaye Phyo Aung was the star, saving two spot-kicks and giving Thet Naing the opportunity for glory, which he took, to send his team through 5-4 on penalties. In normal time, Vietnam led 1-nil at the break when the dangerous Nguyen Xuan Nam raced clear and finished with considerable expertise, something he later failed to repeat at a critical moment. Myanmar equalized just after the hour when skipper David Htan went down in the box, got up, dusted off the mud and whipped the spot-kick straight and true to make it 1-1. Nam thought he'd scored a 2nd when his shot cannoned off the cross-bar and bounced down near the goal-line but the linesman was ten yards behind play and the only outcome was a disappointed Nam, who had only himself to blame for not doing better with a 10-yard golden opportunity with just two minutes remaining. After 90 minutes the game moved straight to penalties instead of extra time and Myanmar netted their first four before missing one, only for Aung to make his second save and leave his teammate, Naing to grab the glory. The players and their supporters went beserk at the final whistle and their celebrations lasted long after everyone else had left the stadium. Goodness knows how they will celebrate if they manage to defeat Thailand in tomorrow's final.

Goalkeeper Pyaye Phyo Aung was less stiff when he saved 2 penalties in the shoot-out

The glory fell to Thet Naing, who converted the winning penalty

Vietnam, who will be pinching themselves that they lost to their lesser local rivals