Saturday, August 2, 2014

U-21s in Laos

PPCFC contingent in Laos: Da, Sokumpheak, Vanny (GK coach), Srin, Suhana
Cambodia's U-21 national team are in Laos today, Vientiane in fact, to meet their Laos counterparts, in a friendly match at 6pm, to give the two teams some match practice ahead of the Hassanal Bolkiah Cup that will begin in Brunei next week. Both teams are in different groups in the Brunei competition. A few of the countries will be sending their U-19 teams to take part in Brunei, but not Cambodia. They have even bolstered their U-21s with five overage players, as allowed by the competition rules with Phnom Penh Crown skipper Kouch Sokumpheak adding his considerable experience to the team, fresh from collecting the MCL Championship trophy last Sunday. Lee Tae-Hoon is in charge of the U-21s, as well as the senior team, and there are obviously some of the U-21 players who will feature for the senior side in the AFF Suzuki Cup qualifiers due in October. It's not ideal for Lee to be in Brunei for a couple of weeks while his seniors are back in camp at Tonle Bati, but he knows best. Apparently. The last time Cambodia were in this invitational competition, Feb 2012, they lost all four games to Brunei, Vietnam, Timor-Leste and Malaysia. This time around they will face Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. It will be intriguing to see whether the U-21s can put a much better performance.
The U-21 squad of 18 players is as follows: Vichet, *Chhoeun, *Soksana (Army), Vathanaka, Samoeun, *Sovan (Boeung Ket), Phearun, N Borey, Ravy (Nat Police), Da, Srin, *Sokumpheak, *Suhana (PPCrown), Daravorn, Udom, Phallin, Tola, Pidor (Svay Rieng). * = overage.
Update:
Final Score: Laos U-21 2 Cambodia U-21 2. Cambodia led through goals by Nob Tola and Ros Samoeun but had to settle for a draw as the home side came back to level in the last fifteen minutes.

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