Manager Yoshinori Kumada has been leading the Myanmar women's national soccer team for 2½ years, guiding the unheralded side gradually up the FIFA rankings with the goal of qualifying for the 2015 World Cup.

"Try not to float the ball, but roll it steadily," Kumada, 52, calls out in Japanese to his players practicing in the scorching heat of Yangon.

Kumada has a translator by his side, but "even when I shout in Japanese, I seem to make myself understood to the players and I'm not concerned about a language barrier," he said.