Going down bravely

The Cambodia U-14s salute their national flag and anthem

The Cambodia U-14s didn't fare so well in their second match in the AFC U-14 Championships being held in Myanmar, when they went down 5-0 to a much taller and stronger Indonesia team yesterday. The competition is for 14 year olds though the majority of the Cambodian team are just twelve and that matters a lot at that age, where young boys are reaching puberty and growing at different speeds. Khmer boys are generally smaller in stature and with their poor diets that doesn't help either. It's a problem that needs to be looked at in depth in order to give Cambodian sporting youngsters a better start in the future. At the moment they do not match up to their Asean counterparts. The U-14s battled bravely yesterday but lost out after a promising 0-0 draw in their first match against Bangladesh. They have a rest now until they meet Laos on Friday in the third of their five-match tournament. Here's a picture of the boys singing the Cambodian national anthem which created a wave of interest amongst Khmer football fans on facebook yesterday.