The latest pearls of wisdom emanating from the Cambodian national team coach, Lee Tae-Hoon, who recently admitted he was at fault for Cambodia's miserable exit from the World Cup qualifying rounds, is to take the national team to the country of his birth, South Korea, for training and practice matches before they embark on the BIDC Mekong Cup batch of games in October, but more importantly the SEA Games in Indonesia in November. He hasn't got the thumbs-up from the Federation as yet, though it sounds as if he's either homesick after 13 months in the Cambodian hot-seat or he's resorting to what he knows best to improve the squad, following their failure in the three major competitions they entered in the past year. His dream is for the national team to spend two weeks training and playing against 1st and 2nd division Korean League teams, who will provide a much better standard of opponents that are available either at home or in Southeast Asia. He feels his team is well below the standard of neighbouring countries like Thailand and Vietnam and to improve their basic techniques, he wants them to face better opposition. He comes from South Korea so that's where he would like to take his team. I wonder if he's got a game against the Korean women's team up his sleeve, as he used to help to coach them. Obviously, the trip could cost a pretty penny, so sponsors would need to be found to cover the costs. Usually, the national team take off for a stay in Vietnam before a big tournament, so this would be a departure from the norm. If it can be achieved, it might well be the shot in the arm that the national team needs after a few dismal performances, especially outside of the country. Even though our record against visiting South Korean university teams like Ulsan is poor, and better standard K-League teams might whip our arses, the experience and lessons learned could be invaluable. I say go for it, if it's financially viable.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Nice to have
The latest pearls of wisdom emanating from the Cambodian national team coach, Lee Tae-Hoon, who recently admitted he was at fault for Cambodia's miserable exit from the World Cup qualifying rounds, is to take the national team to the country of his birth, South Korea, for training and practice matches before they embark on the BIDC Mekong Cup batch of games in October, but more importantly the SEA Games in Indonesia in November. He hasn't got the thumbs-up from the Federation as yet, though it sounds as if he's either homesick after 13 months in the Cambodian hot-seat or he's resorting to what he knows best to improve the squad, following their failure in the three major competitions they entered in the past year. His dream is for the national team to spend two weeks training and playing against 1st and 2nd division Korean League teams, who will provide a much better standard of opponents that are available either at home or in Southeast Asia. He feels his team is well below the standard of neighbouring countries like Thailand and Vietnam and to improve their basic techniques, he wants them to face better opposition. He comes from South Korea so that's where he would like to take his team. I wonder if he's got a game against the Korean women's team up his sleeve, as he used to help to coach them. Obviously, the trip could cost a pretty penny, so sponsors would need to be found to cover the costs. Usually, the national team take off for a stay in Vietnam before a big tournament, so this would be a departure from the norm. If it can be achieved, it might well be the shot in the arm that the national team needs after a few dismal performances, especially outside of the country. Even though our record against visiting South Korean university teams like Ulsan is poor, and better standard K-League teams might whip our arses, the experience and lessons learned could be invaluable. I say go for it, if it's financially viable.
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5 comments:
That's all very well, but who selects the team! Are we going to have the debacle of before, when the best players get left behind or aren't considered when they are playing in Thailand at a higher level?
Dikar or Sovannara should oversee Cambodian teams selection at all levels.
Well that's a totally different question Anon 5:20PM. There's certainly a school of thought that says the national coach should be changed for overseeing an awful series of results...but the federation have gone the other way, given him a new 12 month contract and have shown faith in him when all others have not. People like May Tola have publicly staked their own reputation on the South Korean coach being able to produce the goods over the next 12 months.
Andy
Rewarding failure! Extraordinary.
The word on the terraces is that Vietnam will be the actual destination for the Cambodian national squad training camp, as it has been for the last few years whenever they have a big competition coming up....rather than the pie in the sky wishes of the national team coach, who would prefer his homeland, South Korea. I'd prefer them to pop over to South Korea too, but you have to be realistic.
Andy
So its on the bus again! Or maybe on flying bikes. The FFC needs a quality smooth, drained surface in Phnom Penh so they can practise one-touch football. Olympic stadium is uneven and underwater for much of the rainy season.
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