The national Under-18 football team held on for 70 minutes before surrendering to a 2-0 defeat to China in the 41st Asian Schools Football Championships in Thailand yesterday.
The result - despite the loss - is one that Brunei can be proud of, considering that China are one of the favourites in the tournament.
"It was a very good result by the team. We played very well for 70 minutes but we lost focus and conceded the goals a few minutes later," said national coach Tajul Ariffin Sumpong, in a phone-interview with The Brunei Times last night.
The national team have been drawn into Group B alongside China, South Korea, Macau and Vietnam.
"We could have won the game too. We had three real chances in the game but the players failed to convert. We were very unlucky," said Tajul.
The country will go up against Macau today before facing South Korea tomorrow.
They will close their campaign with a match against Vietnam on Monday.
"We will face Macau tomorrow (today). We will try our best to get a good result as the players are more confident after the match against China."
In a previous report, the national coach said that the team will play a defensive minded strategy with one striker up front when they play against South Korea and China.
"We played with 4-5-1 in the game. Our defence looked solid and we also managed to give a good fight on offence," he said.
The other match saw Vietnam beat Macau 3-0.
Both South Korea and China forced their way through to the semi-finals in the previous edition in Iran, only to be stopped by Thailand and Iran respectively.
South Korea would go on to beat China for third.
Iran, who scored 53 goals without conceding any, were crowned champions after a 2-0 triumph over Thailand.
Iran also beat Indonesia 4-0, Sri Lanka 17-0, South Korea 1-0, Pakistan 28-0 and China 1-0.
The absence of the defending champions in this year's competition will provide more motivation for the other teams while giving them an easier path to the next round.
