Thursday, June 21, 2012

U-22s on their way

The Cambodian U-22 squad just before departure for Laos
The Cambodian U-22 squad pose for an undated photo, most likely taken in the last day or so, before they depart for the AFC U-22 Asian Cup qualifying matches in Laos. It was published on facebook rather than through any official channel and there's only twenty players, so presumably the squad has been reduced. Or two of the players were stuck in the loo. The ones absent from the photo-call are Um Vichet and Ke Vannak, both Army players. And yes, there are no less than five coaches and a physio on the front seats. There's been no official announcement of the squad or their schedule before the games kick-off this coming Saturday when Cambodia meet Hong Kong. Below are the U-22s fixtures, in which I expect them to struggle, despite their morale-boosting 5-1 success against the Philippines recently. Tournament qualifiers are a far different kettle of fish especially when you are meeting the likes of China, Korea and Thailand. They will take no prisoners.

  • Sat 23 June: Hong Kong v Cambodia
  • Mon 25 June: Thailand v Cambodia
  • Thu 28 June: Cambodia v China PR
  • Sat 30 June: Cambodia v Korea DPR
  • Tue 3 July: Laos v Cambodia

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Andy is there any channel to watch this game live?

Anonymous said...

Dont think the country has any high expectation of the national team anyway so there should be no pressure for the players....anything besides a lost should be bonus
was thinking if Australia can shift to AFC maybe Cambodia could move to join the Oceania group to increase their chance of success .... surely the win against the Filipinos prove Cambodia is likely to win against team where soccer is not number 1... oceania will prove the right zone cos the teams there all play rugby

Anonymous said...

Australia? Are you kidding me? Cambodia will never be able to compete with the Aussies in a million years. Even Thailand, THE most powerful team in ASEAN, can't beat the socceroos. No team in the ASEAN region has come close to making the World Cup. Australia has made it to the big dance multiple times. Cambodia can't even beat East Timor now which had not fielded a soccer team until recently. East Timor, along with Brunei and the Philippines have made great strides recently. They have surpassed Cambodia, sadly. If the soccer leaders of Cambodia don't admit this, Cambodian soccer will be the region's doormat for years to come.

Andy Brouwer said...

Unlikely to be live coverage of the U-22 Cup though you might find something at the AFC website and their TV channel. Try www.the-afc.com

Anonymous said...

Honestly speaking, Cambodian football produces a lot of talents recently camparing to Timor Leste, Philippines, Brunei, and Laos. But the problem is coaching, Cambodia haven't paid enough attention to assign coaches. Timor Leste have fielded players with Portuguese and Brazilian origins recently while Philippines also focus on their foreign based-players. Cambodia now focus on academy, every C-league club has their own, that's why there's a Japanese scout who's looking for Cambodian, Thai, Malaysian , and Vietnamese talents to play in J-league. If Cambodia work well with academy and coaches, they will match Vietnam, Thailand well. U-22 Cambodia beat Hongkong last night while Vietnam lost to Taiwan.