 |
| Ouk Sothy (blue, 10) in action v Indonesia |
After stumbling to a 4-1 defeat in Malaysia at the weekend, the
Cambodia national team will feel much better about their showing in the second of their road-trip international friendlies, suffering a single-goal defeat to Indonesia in Surbaya this afternoon. And the game's only goal came from a penalty, conceded by Ros Samoeun, which left the players debating the award with the Malaysian referee, to no avail. Dutch-born Raphael Maitimo converted the spot-kick past Sou Yaty moments before the half-time whistle. Indonesia were wayward with most of their first-half chances though Prak Mony Udom went closest when he sent a shot across the face of the goal on 22 minutes. After the break Suong Virak was thwarted just before the hour, though the home side thought they'd made the game safe in the closing stages only for Christian Gonzales' goal to be ruled out for offside. As you might imagine, coach Lee Tae-Hoon was
satisfied with his team's performance despite the defeat; "I think the
outcome of the game is quite good. Our players played well. The team is
grateful to Indonesia and PSSI, who've given us the opportunity to play
today. Indonesia is a level above us, so this game provides us with good
lessons." The Indonesia coach Alfred Riedl said the hot weather was a factor and he gave chances to players who hadn't played before; "Cambodia is not a good team but they made it difficult for us." After the reverse they suffered against Malaysia, Lee will be almost ecstatic that his team went down to only a single goal. The squad now return to Phnom Penh for more preparation ahead of their 1-game visit to Taiwan, which will be quickly followed by their AFF Suzuki Cup qualifiers in Laos from 11 October. Four Phnom Penh Crown players started the match with a fifth, Hong Pheng, an unused substitute.
Cambodia v Indonesia: Yaty, Samoeun, Visal, Sovan, Daravorn, Srin (Chanrasmey 67), Sothy (Sothearath 46), Sokumpheak, Udom (Chhoeun 75), Virak (Sovannrithy 62), Soksana (Laboravy 42). Subs not used: Vichet, Piseth, Pheng, Vathanaka.
2 comments:
Coach Lee's record as a national coach must be the worst in the world yet the FFC inexplicably continues to endorse him. Still trying to figure out how Cambodia has climbed two places to 199 on the FIFA rankings with recent losses to Guam, Malaysia and Indonesia. Is there light at the end of the tunnel Andy?
Not in my opinion but I appear to be in that darkness you mention, as pretty much everyone else seems to think he's the man for the job. I prefer to go on facts and what I see with my own eyes and I have seen zero progression in the national teams under his watch. I say this after the NT has just won in Chinese Taipei, but anyone who saw the game will know that CT were awful and Cambodia were marginally better. The rankings are a pile of crap anyway, as CT were at 178 and yet they play as rarely as Cambodia do. And I'm not surprised if they play like they did today. No-one would want to watch them in action.
Is there light to look forward to...the Suzuki Cup starts this Sunday and I'm definitely not holding my breath. Yes it would be a superb achievement for Cambodia to progress and the country is willing them to do so, but we have to be realistic and on paper we are lagging behind Myanmar, Laos, Timor-Leste and even Brunei.
Post a Comment