Cambodia hammered

Cambodia's keeper Samrith Seiha challenging Philippines' Angel Guirado. Pic: Josh Albelda/Rappler

As I forecast before Cambodia's national team left for their AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers in Manila, they didn't stand a chance. Once Brunei withdrew two days before the opening games, it was clear that Cambodia were there to take a beating from two of the better-placed teams in FIFA's world rankings, who were determined to make the Challenge Cup finals that will take place in the Maldives next year. Some forty ranking places above Cambodia speaks for itself as to the quality that Turkmenistan and Philippines can produce in the international arena, and the rankings on this occasion, held water. Turkmenistan went about their task from the outset, scoring as early as the 7th minute in Friday's opener against Prak Sovannara's team. They led 4-nil by the break, which included an own goal by Om Thavrak, but found it a little tougher in the second period until the last fifteen minutes, when they rattled in three more goals. In front of a crowd of just 200, Sovannara went with his young midfield trio of Hoy Phallin, Suon Veasna and Prak Mony Udom but left his brightest spark, Chan Vathanaka on the bench until just before half-time. Defensively, Thavrak replaced Tieng Tiny before the half-hour mark but the move failed to stem the tide. Cambodia were hammered and left to lick their wounds until they faced the hosts Philippines two days later. Cambodia's line-up: Yaty, Raksmey, Pancharong, Tiny (Thavrak 27), Piseth, Phallin, Veasna, Suhana (Vathanaka 42), PM Udom, Vathanak, Borey (Narith 55).

For the Philippines encounter on Sunday, coach Sovannara made seven changes, suggesting he had lost faith in his original line-up and was clutching at straws, which as it turned out, was about as good as it got. There was no stopping Philippines in front of a 6,500 crowd once Phil Younghusband netted an eight-minute hat-trick midway through the first half. A goal either side of the interval killed off Cambodia completely and after the Azkals scored a sixth, the match was held up for an hour by a torrential downpour. Two late goals including Younghusband's fourth gave the home team an 8-0 win. Two crushing defeats for Sovannara's team, who ended the qualifiers on three points after Brunei's withdrawal gave them a 3-0 win and three points by default. Cambodia's line-up: Seiha, Raksmey (Phallin 35), Pancharong, Rithy, Piseth, Narith (Borey 81), Khemrin, PM Udom (Thavrak 46), Chanrasmey, Chhoeun, Sokumpheak.

Younghusband was on target again with the game's only goal when Philippines met Turkmenistan in the final game on Tuesday, which sent the home side through as group E winners, whilst Turkmenistan qualified as one of the two best second-placed teams from the five groups. The other best-placed ticket went to Bangladesh who edged out India courtesy of a plus five goal difference. Bangladesh finished runners-up in Group D behind Palestine while Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan topped groups A, B and C respectively.

For Cambodia's fans the two defeats, by such heavy margins, will be hard to swallow. They saw their team hold Philippines to a goal-less draw at the Olympic Stadium last year, so will be stumped that the two teams could've grown so far apart in the intervening period. But in cup football, Philippines have shown they can step up to the plate and they've proved that again. As for Turkmenistan, they are one of the strongest teams at this level of competition and were twice beaten finalists, so they have the pedigree as well. I wasn't surprised that both games ended in defeat but the margins did raise one eyebrow, especially as Sovannara had placed his faith on defensive formations in the matches leading up to the competition. In that respect, it really is back to the drawing board for the national team.

Cam sign-off with win

Cambodia in the 2nd half. Back Row, LtoR: Udom, Piseth, Raksmey, Yaty, Rithy, Phallin. Front: Veasna, Suhana, Pancharong, Borey, Vathanaka.

The Cambodian national team signed off with a successful practice match victory this afternoon at the Olympic Stadium, beating the C-League leaders Boeung Ket 2-1. I don't know why they kicked-off at 2 o'clock as the heat was unbearable, but they did and the first half suffered as a result, with neither team showing much in the way of exciting football. Prak Sovannara gave most of his squad game-time, making ten changes at the interval. By that time, the only two noteworthy elements of the first 45 minutes was Boeung Ket's opener and an open and shut penalty which the referee inexplicably didn't see. Keo Sokngorn may get a slight touch of satisfaction from scoring on 15 minutes when two defenders gave him too much room and he managed to put his shot beyond the reach of keeper Samrith Seiha. Sokngorn had been dismissed from Sovannara's squad just a week earlier. On the half-hour Chhin Chhoeun was pulled down in the Boeung Ket box for a nailed-on spot-kick which was ignored by the referee, much to everyone's surprise.

With Sovannara's first-choice eleven on view for the second-half, there was an obvious improvement in pace and passing and Boeung Ket found it hard to live with it. Their top scorer Bisan George was replaced after failing to shine and at the other end, a nippy burst by Sos Suhana was unlucky not to equalise. A minute after the hour mark and Cambodia drew level. Suon Veasna sent in a cross that Chan Vathanaka left and as the ball bounced, Peng Bunchhay took his eye off it and the ball crept inside the far post. Though chances were few and far between, the national team coach will be pleased with their match winner just two minutes from time. Vathanaka spotted the late arrival of center-half Sok Rithy into the box, picked him out with a perfect pass and the lanky defender took on the role of goalscorer with a neat sidestep and powerful finish inside Bunchhay's near post. The make-up of the national team in the second period certainly worked with Veasna and Hoy Phallin looking neat and tidy in midfield, Borey worked hard up front and won every header while Vathanaka is definitely the team's man-most-likely to do damage. Sovannara now has to cull five players from the 25-man squad, before he heads for the Philippines and the AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers later next week.
Cambodia line-up: Seiha (Yaty 46), Raksmey, Khmerin (Pancharong 46), Tiny (Piseth 46), Thavrak (Rithy 46), Narith (Phallin 46), Sopanha (Veasna 46), Chanrasmey (PM Udom 46), Chhoeun (Suhana 47 (Vathanak 70)), Laboravy (Vathanaka 46), Sokumpheak (Borey 46). Subs not used: Chum, Sovannrithy. Booking: Suhana.

Cambodia in the 1st half: Back Row, LtoR: Thavrak, Tiny, Raksmey, Seiha, Laboravy, Narith. Front: Sopanha, Chanraksmey, Chhoeun, Sokumpheak, Khemrin.

Two of Cambodia's comeback stars, Kouch Sokumpheak (10) and Khuon Laboravy (8)

The starting XI for Boeung Ket included BBU's Chhun Sothearath (with head cap)

Flashback

Cambodia singing the national anthem

Time to catch up with some more photos from Wednesday's international friendly which Cambodia won 3-1 against their regular opponents, Malaysia U-23s. In many ways it was a surprising and very welcome success. Malaysia on paper, are better than what they demonstrated on Wednesday. They will be seeking to secure a hat-trick of SEA Games wins at the end of the year. If they play like they did on Wednesday, they have no hope of achieving that. Conversely, Cambodia can take heart from their win, as they build up to the AFC Challenge Cup later this month. They didn't go gung-ho into the game, preferring to get all 11 players behind the ball for corners and free-kicks, which is a mite negative, and was the same tactic they employed against the university team from Korea. It's not my preferred tactic but it worked against Malaysia, who couldn't break them down or get past Sou Yaty in goal. Likely first choice Sun Sovannrithy and Chan Vathanaka also sat out the game, injured. It was disappointing that Kouch Sokumpheak got just a few minutes at the end of the game, but very pleased with Khim Borey's performance, after he got an early run-out following Choun Chum's injury. He scored with virtually his first touch and made the third for Khuon Laboravy.

The Cambodia team face their national flag

Lining up LtoR: Tieng Tiny, Say Piseth, Prak M Udom, Choun Chum

Lto R: Touch Pancharong, Suon Veasna, Lay Raksmey, Teab Vathanak

Lto R: Teab Vathanak, Sos Suhana, Sou Yaty, San Narith (capt)

The Cambodia bench with coaching staff and substitutes

The Malaysian U-23 starting XI

Some of the Cambodia subs including Kouch Sokumpheak and Samrith Seiha

More Cambodia subs including Khim Borey

Head coach Prak Sovannara facing the press after the final whistle

The PPCFC Academy youngsters in red attending the match

Cambodia shine

Cambodia's starting XI. Back LtoR: Udom, Yaty, Raksmey, Piseth, Tiny, Narith. Front: Chum, Veasna, Vathanak, Suhana, Pancharong

Cambodia's national team gave their fans, and themselves, a much-needed boost in the arm by defeating the Malaysian U-23s this afternoon at the Olympic Stadium. The scoreline was 3-1 and with a bit more luck it could've been a wider winning margin. The Malays are no slouches, though they certainly didn't live up to the hype in today's game. Recent draws against the national teams of Laos and Myanmar, a tour down under in Australia and an upcoming training stint in Europe, not to mention a full season, finishing 4th in the Singapore League last year under the name of Harimau Muda A, is an impressive CV. Their goal is the SEA Games in December, with the country having won the past two competitions in 2009 and 2011. On their performance at the Olympic Stadium today, they won't have a cat in hell's chance. Though their strikers kept Sou Yaty's hands warm with a couple of long-range attempts early on in today's friendly encounter, a deflected cross that flicked off the shin of Tieng Tiny was Yaty's main source of concern before Cambodia took a surprise tenth minute lead. With Choun Chum limping off to be replaced by Khim Borey on seven minutes, the Crown striker made an immediate impact. Malay keeper Izham Roslan lost his bearings as he came out of his area and Borey spotted his chance to roll the ball into an empty net from just outside the box. 1-nil and Borey couldn't quite believe his luck. Bulky Izzaq Ramlan looked as though he might cause Cambodia a few problems when he rounded Yaty after Say Piseth's weak header, but he went too wide and then planted a header over the top soon after. Prak Mony Udom chased a San Narith ball over the top and got to it before the onrushing Roslan, but couldn't direct his heavy touch goalwards. In the final minute of the opening half, Cambodia stunned the Malaysians with a second goal at just the right time. Udom, growing in maturity this season, poked a pass through for Teab Vathanak and the Naga midfielder dinked a tidy finish past Roslan. He almost repeated the feat in injury time but lobbed well over from Borey's give and go.

Tieng Tiny's rash penalty box challenge in the first minute of the 2nd half was ignored by local ref Thong Chankethya and a minute later, Yaty dived full length to keep out a downward header by Wan Zack Wan Nor as the visiting U-23s pushed forward. Sixteen minutes in and skipper San Narith was replaced, with the armband passing to Borey. Two minutes later and Malaysia reduced the deficit. A scuffed free-kick through a sea of legs was turned in my Thamil Arasu and it looked as though Cambodia would have a battle on their hands. Despite Malaysia throwing on four fresh faces, the onslaught never happened and it was the home side who came up with the better ideas. Borey cut inside and curled a shot into Roslan's hands, while Chhin Chhoeun's lob on the run went the wrong side of the upright. With five minutes left on the clock, Borey and Chhoeun exchanged long-range passes and the temporary captain's cross to the far post was nodded down and in by substitute Khuon Laboravy, much to the relief of the audience. Kouch Sokumpheak appeared for a brief cameo and it needed two more diving Yaty saves to keep the result at 3-1 in Cambodia's favour. Coach Prak Sovannara declared himself; "very proud of the team and the performance is what we wanted, and it reinforces what we are trying to achieve as we aim for the Philippines later this month." The national coach chose a mixed team with old hands such as San Narith, Tieng Tiny, Choun Chum and Teab Vathanak rubbing shoulders with the younger element of Soun Veasna, Prak Mony Udom and sub Hoy Phallin. The national team will go into training camp from Sunday and may squeeze one more friendly in before they head to Philippines for the AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers between 22-26 of this month.
Cambodia line-up: Yaty, Raksmey (Sokumpheak 88), Pancharong, Piseth, Tiny, Veasna (Khemarin 64), Narith (Phallin 61), Vathanak (Laboravy 74), Suhana (Chhoeun 49), PM Udom, Chum (Borey 7). Subs not used: Seiha, Bunchhay, Thavrak, Sopanha, Sovannrithy, Rithy, Vatahanak, Chanrasmey. MOTM: PM Udom.

The 4 Phnom Penh Crown players on national team duty. LtoR: Kouch Sokumpheak, Khim Borey, Samrith Seiha, Sos Suhana

Time to gel

Will Kouch Sokumpheak (10) feature in the national team? Pic: Bunsak But/NagaCorp

The Cambodian national team have been in squad training a few times each week for a while now and get to strut their stuff in a friendly match on Wednesday 6 March at the Olympic Stadium, when they take on the Malaysian U-23s, with a 4pm kick-off. The Malaysians have been offering their services for match practice with other national teams and in the past week have drawn 0-0 with Myanmar and 3-3 with Laos. With the Cambodians gearing up for the AFC Challenge Cup qualification games to be held in the Philippines between 22-26 March, matches like these are vital for coach Prak Sovannara to gel a starting line-up from his squad. Now that Kouch Sokumpheak and Khuon Laboravy have returned to league action with their respective clubs, the pressure will be on Sovannara to include them in his plans. A training squad of 30 players will have to be reduced soon enough. Cambodia take on Turkmenistan (22 Mar), host country Philippines (24 Mar) and Brunei (26 Mar).

News leaked out today that Cambodia looks certain to host the SEA Games in 2023, exactly ten years from now. This will be a massive undertaking by the country to get their sports facilities up to scratch as well as their human resources, but they have a decade to do it and will need considerable input and finance from the government and outside sources. Myanmar are hosting the SEA Games this year - they are held every two years - with Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei to follow. And now it looks like Cambodia will be doing the honours in 2023. I went to the SEA Games in Laos and I know how big a job it is to get it right.

Work in progress

Bin Thierry before his Cambodia debut against Ulsan University

There has long been clamouring by Cambodian football fans that they wanted to see overseas Cambodians given the opportunity to play for the national team. There was a general consensus that they must be better than home-based players, simply because they played abroad, which isn't necessarily the case of course. Under new head coach Prak Sovannara that dream has become a reality for three players in the two recent friendly matches against Ulsan University. So how did they fare? Not too well, if Sovannara's substitutions are anything to measure them by. I've yet to ask the coach what his thoughts are but let's look at the two matches and see for ourselves. PPCFC's Bin Thierry was selected as the lone striker in the first friendly match on Friday. Firstly, it's not a position that suits his style of play, in addition, he was just back to full-time training after injury, so he looked short of match practice, and was starved of the ball, and found himself being replaced at the half-time interval. Not exactly an auspicious start for the French-Khmer player, who was as proud as punch to be selected to represent his country. In the second meeting on Sunday, both Kouch Dani and Kem Alex got the call-up. Dani, from PPCFC as well, was positioned wide on the right and with most of the early play taking place on the left flank or down the middle, he saw very little action. So he was as surprised as anyone when his number was held up after just 24 minutes and his national team debut came to an abrupt end. It was a strange decision by the head coach and left the French-Khmer player looking equally perplexed. As for Alex, his first game lasted just 32 minutes before he too, was removed from the field of play. The American-Khmer player found the going tough in the middle of midfield, was often off the pace, his touch was wayward and the substitution, to be frank, wasn't unexpected. Cambodia lost both matches to Ulsan University 1-nil and we'll have to wait and see if Sovannara includes any of the three players in his final squad for the AFC Challenge Cup. The experiment wasn't the rip-roaring success from the outset that many had hoped for, judging by Sovannara's tactical reactions, but it's still early days and the squad have more training sessions ahead of them before the coach has to announce his final selection. The bubble hasn't quite burst but it's a little deflated right now.

Much ado about nothing

Line-up: Back LtoR: Piseth, Sovannrithy, Yaty, Rithy, Thierry, Narith. Front: Vathanaka, Chanraksmey, Suhana, Veasna, Raksmey - click to enlarge

Prak Sovannara's first game back in charge of the Cambodian national team isn't one that will live long in the memory. The 1-0 defeat to Ulsan, a University team who make an annual trip over here from South Korea, at Olympic Stadium this afternoon wasn't unexpected, as Cambodia haven't been able to beat the student tourists in their half a dozen previous matches either. As always, expectations were high from the home fans, with a number of new faces in the coach's squad determined to show their worth to coach and spectators alike, with selection for the AFC Challenge Cup squad as the ultimate goal. Today and a second game on Sunday (3.30pm at Olympic) will give Sovannara some food for thought, though the coach's desire not to lose was evident from the start of this afternoon's match. With a solo striker in the shape of debutant Bin Thierry ploughing a lone furrow up front, it wasn't exactly the all-out attacking line-up or tactical formation that the fans would've appreciated. Instead Cambodia got men behind the ball and brought every player back for corners, which was overly negative for this football fan. It wasn't as if Ulsan were anything special. They were not, though they were physically stronger and posed a threat in the air, where Cambodia are not well endowed. Indeed, the Cambodian keeper Sou Yaty made a scrambling save low down at the start of the 2nd period and that was pretty much the sum total of his afternoon between the sticks. Oh, and picking the ball out of the net when Ulsan struck their 68th minute winner. A simple ball into the box was missed by the head of Om Thavrak and Kwon Tae Cheol lashed it in from twelve yards out.

As an offensive threat, there was more to note from Cambodia. However the game started badly, with just ten seconds on the clock, the home team lost full-back Sun Sovannrithy in an incident few saw. On sixteen minutes, the lively Chan Vathanaka on the left flank struck a sweet first time volley which the Ulsan keeper did well to keep out. Cambodia's best chance arrived on 25 minutes when Vathanaka broke past two players into the box and set up Sok Chanraksmey at the far post for a guilt-edged opportunity which he duly fluffed and gave the keeper an easy save to make. After the break, Sovannara made another nine changes to his line-up and formation, which didn't help the flow of the game or the creativity of his team. It was Vathanaka again, who forced his way past two defenders and into the box, but his stinging left foot drive was turned aside by the Korean keeper just before the hour. The same player volleyed the ball in from ten yards out six minutes after Ulsan netted their goal, but he turned to see the flag raised and his joy short-lived. And that was that. Few chances, little to shout about for the expectant fans and another victory chalked up for the Koreans. Certainly the Cambodian supporters will be looking for a more positive, offensive-minded showing in Sunday's re-run. Phnom Penh Crown's Thierry and Sos Suhana started the game but like their teammates, showed only fleeting positives, with Thierry replaced at half-time and Suhana lasting an hour before replaced by Keo Sokngon. For the fans, Sokngon's non-matching colourful boots was the main talking point and that told a story in itself. Khim Borey came on with fifteen minutes to go but couldn't change the outcome from his midfield role. All in all, as I mentioned right at the start, a game to forget.
Cambodia line-up: Yaty (Bunchhay 83), Raksmey, Sovannrithy (Pancharong 5 (Vibol 83)), Piseth (Thavrak 46), Rithy, Narith capt (Phallin 57), Veasna (Sothearath 80), Suhana (Sokngon 60), Chanraksmey (Chhoeun 72), Vathanaka (Borey 75), Thierry (Soksana 46).

The Phnom Penh Crown trio who got game time against Ulsan. LtoR: Thierry, Suhana, Borey. Click to enlarge

Thirty head for training camp

Cambodia's new head coach Prak Sovannara has published his squad of thirty players who he will put through their paces for the next four days as he begins his serious preparation for the AFC Challenge Cup next March. Their initial target is a couple of friendly matches against Ulsan University from South Korea in the first week of next month, hence the intensive session with his thirty-strong squad over the next few days. Five of the selection come from Phnom Penh Crown with Samrith Seiha, Sos Suhana, Khim Borey and the French-Khmer imports, Bin Thierry and Kouch Dani getting the call-up. As expected Kouch Sokumpheak was not included as he's still weeks away from a return to action after his knee operation, whilst Kok Boris does not figure after suffering with injury over the last few weeks. The rest of the 30 include the following: Thavrak, Chum, Vathanak, Narith, Sovannrithy, Sopanha (Naga), Chhoeun, Soksana, Yaty, Vichet (Army), Bunchhay, Vathanaka, Pancharong, Vibol, Sokngorn (Boeung Ket), Piseth, Vutha, Ravy (Nat Police), Pallin, PM Udom, Chanraksmey, Raksmey, Veasna, Rithy (Preah Khan) and Sothearath (BBU). There's no place for Khuon Laboravy who returned to PKR's cup team surprisingly early this week after a serious knee injury with no spot either for a few other recent national squad regulars like Tum Saray, Sar Sophea, Nen Sothearoth, Moul Daravorn, In Vichheka, Pov Phearith, Khek Khemarin and Tieng Tiny.

The Top Fifty

The first announcement to come out of the football federation since Prak Sovannara returned to coach the Cambodian national team, is a list of 50 players who the coach has selected to get together as a preliminary squad, so he can whittle it down to a more manageable squad of around 22 players, which he will take to Philippines for the AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers in early March. The idea is to have training sessions and then some friendly matches ahead of the Philippines trip. The problem as I see it, is that this late in the day decision to send a team to the Challenge Cup will now have a serious impact on the upcoming Cambodian League and Hun Sen Cup programme of matches. Initially, the federation announced that Cambodia would not be involved and they then brought forward the start of the season by two months to 1 January, with the cup matches beginning ten days before that and lasting through to mid-February. Now they have changed their mind with no consultation with the clubs, again, appointed a new coach and appear to have given him carte blanche to select players and insist they attend training sessions and play matches for the national team. Which quite simply rides roughshod over the plans and commitments of the club teams, with whom the players are contracted, and who have a very busy midweek and weekend series of matches throughout January and February. This lack of planning ahead is a constant problem within the federation and brings the national team into conflict with the clubs at every turn. How can club coaches prepare their teams for a busy schedule when the likelihood is that Sovannara will call his fifty players for training and matches up to four times a week. It simply doesn't add up. There has so far been no mention of postponing C-League matches before and during the AFC Challenge Cup, but this simply must happen or all hell will let loose. Everyone in Cambodia wants a successful national team but there has to be consultation with the clubs, give and take to ensure the domestic competitions don't suffer. But at the moment, it appears pretty much all one-sided in favour of the federation.

Back to the squad of fifty that Prak Sovannara wants to have a good look at. It includes six players from Phnom Penh Crown, most notably the two recent arrivals from France, Bin Thierry and Kok Boris. Crown keeper Samrith Seiha, Sos Suhana, Khim Borey and the injured Kouch Sokumpheak have also been listed. The latter will not likely play for at least two months so his chances of going to the Philippines is extremely slim. The same might be said for Khuon Laboravy of Preah Khan who is also included. Both players had cruciate ligament operations, which are serious injuries, and whilst there may be a desire to rush them back in time, that could be counter-productive to their long term careers. PKR have eight players in the fifty, as do Sovannara's former club Naga, champions Boeung Ket have seven and the National Police and Army have six. All the usual names are in the frame except PKR's Tum Saray, whilst one name has been added though it remains to be seen if Chhunly Pagenburg, who plays his football in Germany with Eintracht Trier 05, will be tempted to join up with the squad.

Nara gets the top job

Prak Sovannara - back at the helm of the national team

As expected, the federation have today announced that Prak Sovannara will take over the reins of the Cambodian national team as head coach for the forthcoming AFC Challenge Cup qualifying group matches in the Philippines in early March. Sovannara has resigned as head coach at NagaCorp, where he took charge in March 2010 after a stint with Preah Khan Reach, and will be joined by a backroom team of assistant coaches Meas Channa, Ieng Saknida and goalkeeping coach, Prak Vanny. The newly-appointed coach has been in the hot seat before, for a year from July 2008 and has been number two as well. I've always found him to be one of the most knowledgeable people in Cambodian football and as the reporter for the Phnom Penh Post, I interviewed him on numerous occasions. The following post shines a light on the career of Prak Sovannara and appeared on my blog on 18 March 2009.

I recently chatted to Prak Sovannara about his own career as a player and coach before becoming the Cambodian national team coach midway through last year (2008), and the first surprise is that he's just 36 years old, making him one of international football's youngest coaches. Born in November 1972, he made his debut for his country at 21, retired from playing at 27 to concentrate on coaching and took on the national team hot-seat last year at the tender age of 35. He's Cambodia's only Asian Football Federation A-licence qualified coach, coaching at junior, youth and club level before taking the top job after Korean coach Yoo Kee-Heung was sacked. Sovannara is quick to single out the influence of Joachim Fickert, whom he played under in the national team when the German coached the Cambodia side during the 1990s. "I learnt so much from him, about organization, tactics as well as how to handle players on and off the pitch, " he said.

Sovannara's playing career began at 17 for the Civil Aviation team in the 2nd Division. As a wide right-sided midfield player, he combined football with his sports teacher studies before joining the more-fancied Division 1 Royal Bodyguard team in 1993 - a move to a club that swept all before them in the top flight of Cambodian football during his half a dozen years there. 1993 also saw him make his international debut against a visiting USSR U/19 team, at the age of 21. It was in 1995 that Cambodia, with Sovannara as a regular in midfield, took its first tentative steps back into re-establishing its international presence. They took part in the SEA Games in Chiang Mai though their years of isolation clearly showed, conceding 32 goals and scoring none in their four matches. A year later, with Fickert now at the helm, they took part in the Tiger Cup in Singapore, where they lost all four games, in the SEA Games in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta in 1997, where they won twice and narrowly missed the semi-finals, and finished third in the Presidents Cup in the Philippines the same year.

1999 was a watershed year for Sovannara. In the SEA Games in Brunei, he was to play the last of his international matches for Cambodia, as well as parting company with his successful club side. He passed his B-licence in coaching that year and decided that coaching was where his future lay. He was 27 years old. Though he'd been involved in coaching schools and junior teams, he now moved up a notch, as assistant coach to the national youth team for the next three years, before another step up, this time as assistant to the new Cambodian national coach Scott O'Donell for a couple of years. In 2006 he tasted a year in charge of club side Phnom Penh Empire, leading them to runners-up spot in the Cambodia Premier League before returning to coach the national youth team at U/17 level. Seemingly groomed for the top job in Cambodian football and definitely the best-equipped homegrown coach, Sovannara was the man the FFC turned to after the departure of Yoo Lee-Heung and following a few early forgettable results, he gained immediate success by guiding the country through qualification to the finals of the AFF Suzuki Cup. The next challenge will be to qualify for next year's AFC Challenge Cup finals with success in Bangladesh next month, as well as a good showing at the SEA Games in Laos at the end of the year. It won't be an easy task but Sovannara has shown he's prepared to take on that challenge, as he continues to shape and define his youthful squad.

That was the end of my blog post but I think its worth also noting the details of Sovannara's previous spell as the national team coach, which ended in June 2009 when Scott O'Donell returned to lead the team as head coach: Prak Sovannara took over as Cambodia's national coach in July 2008 after a string of poor performances under the former South Korean coach and the forecast looked bleak when a three week stint of practice matches in South Korea, produced losses in six of eight games to university and domestic teams. Not easily deterred, Sovannara, who played for the national team in the 1990s and who has coached domestic side Phnom Penh Empire and the national youth team, also cast aside crushing friendly defeats, 7-1 to Myanmar and 7-0 to Indonesia, to put some fire into the belly of his players for the AFF Suzuki Cup qualifying tournament held in Phnom Penh last October. With wins over Laos (3-2) and Brunei (2-1), a draw with Timor Leste (2-2) and a loss to Philippines (2-3), his youthful Cambodian team, with an average age of 22, qualified as runners-up for the finals. This was a real success for the fans and players alike to rejoice in, exemplified by the whole squad running to throw their shirts into the 15,000 crowd at the end of the qualifiers. In the December finals Cambodia came unstuck against Singapore (0-5) and Indonesia (0-4) and narrowly lost to Laos 3-2 but could hold their heads high in competing at the senior level of Asean football. In April 2009, he took his young squad to Bangladesh for the AFC Challenge Cup group stage and narrowly failed to qualify, beating Macau 2-1 but losing to Bangladesh and Myanmar, by a 1-nil scoreline on both occasions. He relinquished control of the squad when O'Donell returned. In a dozen international matches under his control, he won three games, 1 draw and eight defeats, goals for 14, goals against 37.

Naga hope for a happy marriage

As mentioned a few posts ago, Prak Sovannara (right) hasn't taken long in finding himself a new club after parting company with Preah Khan Reach recently. Naga Corp, last year's champions, have stepped in to offer him a 1-year contract as their new coach and the marriage will hopefully be a happy one. Sovannara is the best homegrown coach by a country mile and though his stint at PKR ended in tears, this new one should be right up his street. His first game in charge will be against newboys Prek Pra Keila on Sunday. Another new coach, Nigerian-born Solomon Demagudu, will also make his first appearance on Sunday when his new team, Khemara Keila take on the Army boys, fresh from their Hun Sen Cup success. Demagudu was previously at the helm of Phuchung Neak, but the Navy team were relegated from the Premier League at the close of last season. Let's hope he has more luck with Kuoch Sokumpheak and his teammates. And the new coach at Preah Khan Reach is Rith Dikar after their hopes of a foreign name petered out. The new Metfone C-League kicks off tomorrow, Saturday, at 2.30pm when Phnom Penh Crown meet Wat Phnom, with last season's top scorer Prince Justine aiming to begin his Crown career with a goal or three against his former employers.