Bojan Hodak's boys started like a house on fire and got into the lead after only four minutes played when Awang Faiz's curler from edge of the box went beyond the grasping dive of the Myanmar keeper. Midfielder Nik Akif Syahiran then doubled Malaysia's lead in the 18th minute with a well taken shot from a cut back on the right hand side.
However with the two goals lead Malaysia went into a shell and Myanmar put up a spirited display to completely turned the match around. A defensive mistake allowed Win Naing Tun to pull a goal back in the 23rd minute and the striker only needed another three minute to grab his second.
With the score at 2-2, Myanmar surged ahead when Myat Kaung Khant scored directly from a corner kick and Malaysia's were left shell-shocked going from 2-0 up to 2-3 down in a space of just eight minutes.
The Young Tigers recovered their composure in the second half and finally managed to force home an equaliser through Shivan Pillay in the 76th minute. When it looked like the match was destined to go into extra time, up step Nik Akif.
The Kelantan player stood over a free kick with less than 60 seconds of added time to go and he promptly curled a free kick into the top corner to send the Malaysian bench into delirium. 4-3 was the final score and Malaysia became first time winner of the AFF U19 Championship.
Newly appointed Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) president Datuk Hamidin bin Mohd Amin who jetted off to Indonesia hours after the FAM congress was full of praise to witness the first success of his reign but stop short of calling it his own.
"I would like to congratulate the U19 team on their historic success. This comes less than 10 hours after I was confirmed at the new president but this is not my success. The credit has to go to the players, Bojan Hodak and his coaching staff as well as Dato' Ab Ghani Hassan."
"I would also like to take this opportunity to thank former FAM presdient HRH Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim for his planning in hiring Hodak as the U19 coach. I hope we can continue this momentum from the U19 squad in the AFC U19 in October," said Datuk Hamidin in his statement.
Malaysia also reached the final of the 2017 edition but lost to Thailand, in what was the fifth time that Malaysia had finished as runners-up.
