Macau breaks the spell and scores against Myanmar, loses 5-1

The Macau football team has finally broken a long-standing spell by scoring one goal against Myanmar in the first leg of the Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 1 for the FIFA World Cup 2026.

In the 54th minute of the match when Macau was losing 1-nil, Nicholas Torrão picked up a rebound in the box and put the ball in the Myanmar net, making it all square and breaking the spell over the local team. The local team had failed to score a goal since June 2019 in its 1-0 victory over Sri Lanka in the same qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup 2022.

Unfortunately for the local team, the Burmese side responded almost immediately at minute 63. After a corner kick, the defender tried to clear the ball from the danger area at the far post but ended up assisting Kyaw Soe Moe without much trouble, putting the Myanmar side at an advantage from the middle of the box.

Earlier on, the Burmese side had started the match with the upper hand with the first goal of the match being denied to Kyaw Soe Moe by Macau goalkeeper Ho Man Fai in minute 29, when, after a free-kick, Moe dived to head the ball and Ho saved it with one hand.

Showing dominance in ball possession and passing, the Myanmar team finally scored some 10 minutes later, with Lwin Moe Aung picking up a ball defended by Ho Man Fai after a header from Than Paing, bringing the score to 1-nil.

The 2-1 for Myanmar seemed to end the Macau team’s hopes of reaching a more positive result to bring Macau to the second-leg match next week.

In the minutes that followed, several local players started to show signs of exhaustion and were assisted by the medical team for cramps.

Before the match ended and after several substitutions on the Macau team, Myanmar reached their third goal of the match by Aung Kaung Mann, assisted by Win Naing Tun.

And if the score was not unbalanced enough, in the stoppage time (+6 minutes), Macau conceded two more goals. The first was for Nay Moe Naing at minute 90+2 and the last was when the clock was already showing 90+6 by Lwin Moe Aung, assisted by Khun Kyaw Zin Hein. The final score was 5-1 and significantly jeopardized the chances for Macau to pass the first round.

For that to happen, the local team needs to win the second leg (Oct. 17 at Taipa Olympic Stadium) at 4-nil or a score difference of five goals if Myanmar scores. This is a task that, taking into account the football demonstrated by the local team, seems to be Herculean.