With the main focus for the Cambodian national team on the AFF Suzuki Cup in October this year, another international competition has just been added to the schedule. However, its not for the full Cambodian team but at the Under-22 age level. It's the newly-formed AFC U-22 Asian Cup 2013, which the AFC are saying will become one of the most important international tournaments in Asia. The draw for the qualification groups, seven in total, was made earlier today and Cambodia, one of 41 countries taking part, was drawn in Group F of the East Asia region, along with DPR Korea, China PR, Thailand, Hong Kong and Laos. The qualifying group matches will begin in late June 2012 and into July, midway through the Metfone C-League campaign. Cambodia were not one of the seeded teams and though highly improbable that they will appear, the finals of the competition, with sixteen teams, will be held in June 2013. There is no mention yet of where these qualifying matches will take place. The preparation for the upcoming Brunei U-21 tournament (end of this month) has already disrupted the pre-season programme for some clubs and this new competition looks set to do the same during the C-League campaign, whenever it finally gets underway.
Talking of the pointless Hassanal Bolkiah Trophy tournament for U-21 players from eleven countries (plus 5 overage players allowed in each squad) in Brunei, the Cambodian squad of 18 players has been announced. Their first game is against Vietnam on 24 Feb; then 26 Feb versus Malaysia; 2 Mar v Timor Leste; 4 Mar v Thailand. The squad includes 7 players from Preah Khan Reach (Sophea, Sothearoth, Daravorn, Rithy, PM Udom, Vathanaka, Saray), 6 from Army (Yaty, Khemarin, U Dara, Chhoeurn, Phearith, Soksana), 2 from Police (Piseth, Srey Udom) and 1 apiece from Boeung Ket (Pancharong), BBU (Sothearath) and Naga (Vathanak). No PPCFC players were involved in the build-up for the tournament and therefore not considered.
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6 comments:
Do Cambodia field overage players in Brunei tournament ?
Jonny, yes they do. Its always a lottery with players ages in Cambodia, but I reckon the overage players in the squad of 18 are probably Teab Vathanak, Chhun Sothearath, Khek Khemarin, Say Piseth and Srey Udom. Most likely all the others will claim they are either 21 years old or under 21.
Andy
Andy. Why didn't PPC release its players as requested for pre-Brunei games. Surely Borey, Sokumpheak and Tiny as overage players and Sovann and Souhana as U21 players would then have been considered and/or selected for the 18-man Brunei squad!
What about for future tournaments like the AFC U22 in June, are they now out of the reckoning?
For Brunei Mr Lee will probably reinforce his team with the 3 allowed overage players Sok Rithy, Sothearath and Vathanak as the spine of his team to bolster his chances - the U21s should play regardless of the result.
I thought I have explained already why PPCFC didn't release their players for this worthless tournament. Bottom line is we have a new squad and out of necessity they need to work together ahead of the Hun Sen Cup and C-League. They need to get to know each other and develop a pattern of play. Allowing players to train with the national team for a worthless friendly tournament would've seriously affected that and scuttled our chances of building a new team that can challenge this season. Now that the league is just about to start, we need the squad to stay together even more, so to release players to Brunei would've been totally counter-productive for the club. In addition, the tournament is not a sanctioned FIFA or AFC/AFF competition, its a friendly kickabout.
Andy
2nd part of your question: Its up to the FFC and their national coach if our decision affects their selection for other competitions. I have given up trying to fathom the thinking of FFC and coach Lee. They were fully appraised of our decision and the reasons for it.
The U-22 competition in June is also smack-bang in the middle of the C-League season, so another really badly-timed tournament. We'll have to wait and see what happens.
For PPCFC our main focus is the C-League and the AFC President's Cup. They are the two main club competitions we want to win. We must do everything we can to prepare our team for these.
Andy
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