Yangon: Having held one of the tournament favourites to a scoreless draw in front of a huge crowd in Yangon, a buoyant Myanmar side declared post-match that they too deserve to now be mentioned as genuine title contenders.

In an entertaining clash both teams had chances to bank maximum points but having become the first nation to stop Vietnam’s winning run the hosts feel that they deserve a little bit of the limelight that’s been shining on the Golden Stars.

“Of course I know that Vietnam and Thailand are strong nations but tonight we showed what we can do and we showed the quality of Myanmar and just how dangerous we can be.”

The draw moved both Myanmar and Vietnam a point clear of Malaysia and with the Asian Lions traveling to Kuala Lumpur for the final round of matches they are in the strong position of controlling their own destiny.

Even though a draw in that match will be enough to see his nation progress Hlaing Bo Bo insists that nothing less than a win is the goal.

“We will not play for the one point and the draw, only the three points and the win that’s what we’re thinking and what is our objective.”

One factor they won’t have in their favour in Malaysia is the home support that they enjoyed in Yangon where the crowd arrived some four hours before kickoff and never stopped singing and dancing until well after fulltime.

“Today we played really well, not just myself but the whole team. It was really a total team effort tonight and we want to pay thanks to such a big crowd that turned up to support our team and now we will do our best to focus on the next match and make sure we get the point we need.”