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Myanmar will be looking to pick up their first win in the 2014 AFF Suzuki Cup qualifiers on Thursday evening when they take on Brunei in Vientiane, Laos. Having been made to wait until the second matchday for their first taste of action, Radojko Avramovic's charges kicked off their campaign on Tuesday with a goalless draw against a fast-improving Timor Leste side. Although Avramovic said after the game that he was not disappointed with the result, he will definitely be gunning for three points at the New Laos National Stadium against a Brunei outfit who are on the brink of elimination. Under ex-Blackburn manager Steve Kean, who is also in charge of S.League club DPMM FC, the Bruneians had high hopes that they would be able to cause a few upsets in Vientiane. However, things have not gone according to plan following consecutive 4-2 defeats to Timor Leste and host nation Laos. If they suffer a third successive defeat at the hands of Myanmar, their hopes of making it to the main event in November will be over. In both matches, experienced campaigners like goalkeeper Wardun Yussof and centre-back Shahrulrizal Abdul Rahman had error-strewn displays that ultimately cost them dearly. And it will not get easier against a Myanmar side who look close to firing on all cylinders, despite failing to find the back of the net against the Timorese. While he had a relatively quiet game by his standards, Kyaw Ko Ko came closest to scoring for the White Angels on Tuesday when his lovely curling effort in the first half came back off the bar. He has been in fine form all year long for Yangon United, racking up nine goals in the league and six more in the AFC Cup. With striker partner Yan Paing also posing a legitimate threat, and with David Htan and Yan Aung Kyaw pulling the strings from midfield, Myanmar fans will be optimistic they will not have much longer to wait to see their team open their account in the qualifiers. In Thursday's other game, Timor Leste will be looking to maintain their unbeaten start to the campaign against Cambodia, who were not in action on Tuesday after being beaten 3-2 by the Laotians in their opening match. Although O Sol Nascente have only once made the finals of the Suzuki Cup -- then known as the Tiger Cup -- back in 2004 when there was no qualifying round, they have made huge strides in the past few years. Brazilian-born Murilo de Almeida is looming as the man most likely to fire them to glory, following a clinical hat-trick in their 4-2 win over Brunei on Tuesday. They may not be traditional powerhouses in the region, but the Timorese are now starting to believe they have what it takes to earn a spot in Southeast Asia's premier competition. "I think we can be very satisfied with how we've done so far," said Manoel Alvaspinhairo Filho, Timor Leste's fitness coach. "We probably entered this tournament ranked by outsiders as the weakest out of the five teams. So for us to have taken four points from our opening two games, including a draw against a Myanmar team many believe are the strongest side, certainly shows how far we've come and the potential we have."
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