Services no longer required

Lee Tae-Hoon - his services will not be required any longer

I've just heard some news, late in the day, which has brought some relief from a very trying period in Cambodian football that pretty much everyone will want to forget. I'm referring to the reign of the Cambodian national football coach, Lee Tae-Hoon, over the past twenty-one months since his appointment in August 2010. I understand the head coach's contract will not be renewed when it comes to an end next month. This was a contract extension granted by the federation a year ago, though it's believed the bulk of the salary was donated by the South Korean FA. From the beginning, his stint in charge went pretty much nowhere. Aside from a home win over Laos in the World Cup, results from the games under his supervision in the big competitions such as the AFF Suzuki Cup, the AFC Challenge Cup, the FIFA World Cup and the SEA Games were an unmitigated disaster and left Cambodia lagging well behind their international team peers. There were no redeeming features of his time in charge that spring readily to mind - though his loyalty from the players never diminished - and in a results-driven business like football, the writing was on the wall over a year ago, and before he signed that contract extension. Why it has taken this long for the football federation to act is beyond my reasoning. Only they can answer the charges that should be levelled against them by every Cambodian football fan. Now we must await the deliberations of those same football authorities to see who will lead Cambodia at the AFF Suzuki Cup qualifiers, to be held in Myanmar between 5-13 October. The word is that they will seek a local coach to take charge. The fate of the nation's football future rests in their hands. It doesn't bear thinking about.