ASEAN + 1 at Feb's HBT

All 10 ASEAN member nations, plus guests Timor Leste, will play in Feb 25- March 5 competitionALL 10 ASEAN member nations, plus guests Timor Leste, will be taking to the field for next month's Hassanal Bolkiah Trophy (HBT)."

We have already received confirmation from all the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries ... including (guests) Timor Leste," a National Football Association of Brunei Darussalam (NFABD) official told The Brunei Times yesterday."We are looking forward to watching some good games and getting a lot of public support," added the official ahead of the Feb 25- March 5 competition.

ASEAN groups Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Preparation for the biennial tournament is shifting gears, with the registration for players closing on Tuesday and the national team in their final phase of training.The confirmation that a full-field of 11 teams will be in town for the Under-21 tournament should be welcomed with open arms by local football fans considering this will be the biggest tournament that Brunei will be hosting in years.

International football in Brunei came to a standstill in October, 2009 when FIFA suspended Brunei, preventing the Sultanate from hosting the HBT for what would have been the fourth time.But it has been business as usual since Brunei was re-admitted back in FIFA last May, with the country's sternest test since then the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Jakarta last November.

The same 11 countries competed at the Nov 11-22 SEA Games, where Malaysia took gold after beating hosts Indonesia 4-3 on penalties having seen the final match end 1-1. Though their star might have faded on the regional scene, two-time champions Thailand still look to be the team to beat when it comes to the HBT.They enter as titleholders after squeezing past Myanmar 5-4 on penalties the last time the event was contested in 2007. Thailand also beat Myanmar to lift the 2005 edition of the trophy.Indonesia won the inaugural competition in 2002.Though their new coach Widodo Cahyono Putro was quoted on the Asean Football Federation (AFF) website as saying that the team have not even decided where to hold centralised training, he was confident his side will be able to put up a good showing considering "the various quality players they have".Tournament rules allow for five senior players in each team an exemption that Malaysia don't seem to be interested in.

The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) announced last month that it will be sending the country's Under-19 squad (Harimau Muda B) to the HBT, a decision made with an eye to the future.Vietnam and Singapore can also count themselves as favourites to lift the trophy come March 5.Though the national team may not be as experienced as their counterparts, national coach Kwon Oh-son insists they will not be intimidated by their opponents.The evergreen South Korean coach also insists the team are good enough to qualify for the second-round (semi-finals).If he keeps his word, it will be the first time the hosts will have progressed past the group stages after failing to make it through during the previous three attempts.

The Brunei Times