Cambodia end on a high note

Cam v Brunei, back row, LtoR: Udom, Sovan, Laboravy, Piseth. Pheng. Yaty. Front: Suhana, Chhoeun, Samoeun, Visal, Sokumpheak (capt) - courtesy of Masayori Ishikawa/CAMPA/Khmer Goal

Result: Brunei 0 Cambodia 1 (AFF Suzuki Cup).
Cambodia ended their AFF Suzuki Cup qualification competition with a 1-0 victory over Brunei in Laos this afternoon, their 2nd win in 4 games, but it was not enough to qualify. Myanmar and Laos go through to the finals, with the Burmese claiming top-spot in a 2-1 decider. Chhin Chhoeun scored the game's only goal on 56 minutes, taking a Prak Mony Udom pass in his stride and sending his finish low inside the near post. Cambodia had other chances with Kouch Sokumpheak and Sos Suhana going close in the first-half. Khuon Laboravy and Chan Vathanaka should've extended the lead but failed in front of goal, and a very poor Brunei team, who left their first-choice keeper and their captain on the bench, nearly snatched a draw late on when they hit the upright. Cambodia deserved their win, with 4 Phnom Penh Crown players starting the game: Sokumpheak, Sou Yaty, Suhana and Hong Pheng. Ngoy Srin missed out through suspension. 
Cambodia starting XI: Yaty, Samoeun (Virak), Pheng, Piseth, Sovan, Visal (Vathanaka), Udom, Sokumpheak, Chhoeun, Suhana (Chanrasmey), Laboravy. Subs not used: Sophea, Sovannrithy, Daravorn, Soksana, Sothearath. Goal: Chhoeun (56).

Cambodia miss out again

Cam v Myanmar, back row, LtoR: Piseth, Vathanaka, Laboravy, Sovannrithy, Pheng. Yaty. Front: Sovan, Samoeun, Srin, Sothearath, Sokumpheak - click to enlarge

Result: Myanmar 1 Cambodia 0 (Aff Suzuki Cup).
The Cambodia national team lost 1-0 to Myanmar as their AFF Suzuki Cup qualification came to a premature end with one game still to play, in Vientiane, Laos this afternoon. Kyaw Ko Ko slotted home a penalty on 42 minutes as Myanmar went to the top of the five-team table. TV replays were inconclusive as Sok Sovan had his back to the camera when Japanese referee Iida Jumpei adjudged he'd handled a harmless cross into the penalty area. Cambodia huffed and puffed but didn't cause the Myanmar back-line too many problems, though Khuon Laboravy should've done better with a chance early in the second half. Coach Lee Tae-Hoon surprisingly left his super-sub Sok Chanrasmey on the bench until just twenty minutes to go and his introduction failed to inspire his teammates as it did against Timor-Leste. In fact, it needed two more very good saves from Sou Yaty to keep Cambodia in the game towards the end, as Cambodia failed to find a way through and are out of contention for a qualifying spot once again. Four Phnom Penh Crown players started the game; captain Kouch Sokumpheak, Sou Yaty, Hong Pheng and Ngoy Srin, with Sos Suhana an unused sub. With Laos beating Timor-Leste 2-0 in the later game, the two qualifiers have been confirmed as Laos and Myanmar, who go forward to the competition's final stage.
Cambodia v Myanmar: Yaty, Samoeun (Chhoeun 69), Pheng, Piseth, Sovan, Sovannrithy, Srin (Chanrasmey 70), Sokumpheak, Sothearath (Udom 58), Vathanaka, Laboravy. Subs not used: Sophea, Visal, Daravorn, Suhana, Virak, Soksana. Bookings: Srin.

Sok-tastic!

Cambodia's starting XI v Timor-Leste, back row, LtoR: Piseth, Sovan, Sovannrithy, Pheng, Laboravy, Yaty. Front: Srin, Suhana, Daravorn, Soksana, Sokumpheak (capt) - courtesy of Masayori Ishikawa/CAMPA/Khmer Goal

Result: Timor-Leste 2 Cambodia 3 (AFF Suzuki Cup Qualifying).
The Cambodia national team found themselves a new poster pin-up boy when Sok Chanrasmey left the substitutes bench with thirty minutes of the game remaining, and turned this AFF Suzuki Cup qualifying match on its head with a hat-trick of goals to earn his team a 3-2 victory, after they trailed by two goals with fifty minutes of the game played. The shock of the round said the TV commentator as Cambodia's national team came back from the dead to beat Timor-Leste in Laos this afternoon. Entering the fray as a replacement for Ngoy Srin, the TriAsia substitute Chanrasmey was on for five minutes before he netted his first on 65 minutes as Prak Mony Udom pulled the ball across the face of goal for an easy tap-in. While Sou Yaty kept his team in the game with a world class save at the one end, Chanrasmey was in space to direct his header into the corner from a Khuon Laboravy cross at the other on 78 minutes. And the Cambodian players were in seventh heaven just four minutes later as Chan Vathanaka lashed a shot against the cross-bar and as it bounced down, Chanrasmey made sure it counted as he headed the ball home. A turnaround of monumental importance to keep Cambodia's qualifying chances alive. There was still time for Laboravy to hit the foot of the post. In truth, whilst the victory was sweet for Cambodia, their opponents visibly wilted as the game wore on, playing their third game in six days and having lost two of their better players, recalled by their Kuwaiti club. The first-half was pretty poor fare by any standard and it was Timor who took a 25th minute lead when a free-kick took a deflection en route, caught Yaty going the wrong way and all he could do was palm it onto the knee of Barbosa who accepted the gift. Six minutes after the break, Timor pulled further in front when Bertoldo found space in the box and finished with a flourish, back-heeling the ball past Yaty. It was the only piece of flair Timor produced, despite a sprinkling of Brazilians in their line-up. Two quick substitutions by Cambodia's Korean coach Lee Tae-Hoon and the new faces combined to open the door for Cambodia's revival, which they took full advantage of.  "We were a bit lucky today as Timor had played two matches straight and it was obvious that they were tired. They were also missing two key players,” said Lee after the match. “We had some defensive problems, so this is something which we need to work on.” Cambodia now meet the favourites to progress, Myanmar on Saturday, hoping to keep their renewed dream alive.
Cam v Timor: Yaty, Pheng, Sovannrithy, Daravorn, Piseth, Sovan, Sokumpheak, Suhana (Udom 54),  Srin (Chanrasmey 60), Soksana (Vathanaka 35), Laboravy. Subs not used: Sophea, Visal, Samoeun, Sothearath, Chhoeun, Virak. Bookings: None. MOTM: Chanrasmey. Goals: Chanrasmey 3 (65, 78, 82).

Can Cambodia spring a surpise?

Cambodia's national team are in Malaysia for a friendly later tonight and if they pull off a shock victory, it could spell the end for the Malaysian head coach Dollah Salleh. He himself admits he's walking on thin ice after losing back-to-back friendlies to Tajikistan (4-1) and Indonesia (2-0) in recent weeks and that a convincing win over Cambodia is expected. For the visitors, a positive result would be an unexpected achievement, as of course Cambodia are preparing for the AFF Suzuki Cup qualifying competition in Laos next month, while Malaysia, as one of the strongest teams in Southeast Asia, will be in the competition proper. There they will meet defending champions and co-hosts Singapore and three-time champions Thailand, alongwith one of the two qualifiers. That could be Cambodia, though most pundits are suggesting its more likely to be Myanmar and hosts Laos that go through from the five-team qualifying pool, that also includes Brunei and Timor-Leste. South Korean coach Lee Tae-Hoon sprang a surprise earlier this week when he announced the 20-man Cambodia squad for the Malaysia game, and a further match against Indonesia on 25 September. Two players he's been supportive of since he took charge of the team in August 2010, Sos Suhana from Phnom Penh Crown and Boeung Ket defender Touch Pancharong have been dropped from the touring party, alongwith Kok Boris and Bin Thierry from Crown and Svay Rieng's keeper Sar Sophea and Hoy Phallin. The word is that the door has not been shut on their inclusion in the Suzuki Cup squad but it doesn't look likely they will make it. The match against Indonesia, led by Alfred Riedl and who've recently beaten Pakistan and Nepal and drawn with Yemen and Qatar in friendly games, whilst Cambodia have been completely absent from international matches for the whole of this year, is a replacement fixture after Lebanon withdrew. Fortunately, Cambodia were in the region. In the third of their Suzuki Cup warm-up matches, all away from home, Cambodia will play Chinese Taipei in Taiwan on 8 October, just a few days before they head to the qualifiers in Vientiane. Despite playing no senior international friendly matches for what seems like an eternity, Cambodia moved up two places in the FIFA world rankings to 199 in the latest table, published two days ago. They were previously at 201 out of a total of 208 countries but it seems the rankings pay scant attention to the fact that this national team has not played a match in anger since they lost 2-0 to Guam in November 2013. Mind-boggling.
The Cambodia NT squad v Malaysia & Indonesia: *Yaty, Vichet, Visal, Sovan, Samoeun, Piseth, *Srin, Daravorn, *Pheng, Sovannrithy, Udom, *Sokumpheak, *Sothy, Virak, Sothearath, Chanrasmey, Vathanaka, Chhoeun, Soksana, Laboravy. * denotes PPCFC players.

Suzuki squad

The Korean coach of the Cambodia national team, Lee Tae-Hoon, with his main target this year of being one of two teams to qualify from the AFF Suzuki Cup qualifying tournament in Laos between 12-20 October, has named an initial squad of thirty players to begin training this week. That squad will be whittled down to 25 and then just twenty players will make the trip to Vientiane. Reports suggest that a training camp in Korea has been shelved in favour of one in Vietnam and that the team will play some international friendlies leading up to the qualifiers. I'll believe that when I see it. Optimism was initially raised by the recent performances of the Cambodia U-21 team in an invitational tournament in Brunei, though that disappeared when the team were soundly beaten by the Vietnamese U-19s in their final match. So it's now up to Lee to raise the spirits again for the matches in October against Laos (12/10), Timor Leste (16/10), Myanmar (18/10) and Brunei (20/10). Lee's record in competitive games since he took over the national team, which was initially in August 2010 for 22 months before he returned for a second stint in August of last year, is 7 wins in 33 games, which includes three victories recently in Brunei. Draw your own conclusions from that record. Of the thirty players he's collected together this week, I'll take a stab at who I think he will choose to be his final 20, perhaps with the addition of Chhunly Pagenburg, who's playing Germany at the moment, if he can be persuaded to join the tournament. I reiterate, these are Lee's choices, not mine: Yaty, Vichet, Pancharong, Samoeun, Sovan, Sovannrithy, Boris, Pheng, Khemarin, Piseth, Sothearath, Thierry, Sokumpheak, Suhana, Phallin, Chhoeun, Udom, Laboravy, Vathanaka, Soksana.

Asean Super Teams

Looking at football in Asia, there was an announcement earlier this week that could have far-reaching implications for Cambodian football. On the sidelines of the AFF meeting, the arrival of the Asean Super League in 2015 was being touted as the next big thing to give Asean club sides their own UEFA Champions League style competition.The details are still to be ironed out but the regional super league would reportedly feature 16 teams, two each from 8 member nations, namely Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines and Cambodia, whilst "on a franchise basis" was also mentioned - which could literally mean anything, such as brand new clubs being formed or 'best of' teams being entered. It's all very fuzzy at the moment as the high level discussions will determine the future make-up of the ASL 2015. It's certainly not as cut and dried as Cambodia's best two clubs being invited to join for example. We'll pretty much have to wait and see what transpires.

Almost in the same breath, it was announced the AFF Suzuki Cup in 2014 will be co-hosted by Vietnam and Singapore but more importantly, the pre-qualifying series of matches have been scrapped, so all 11 - or maybe 12 nations, if Australia are admitted - will get to appear. In last year's edition, you'll recall Cambodia finished rock-bottom in pre-qualifying, losing all four matches to Timor Leste 5-1, Laos 1-0, Brunei 3-2 and Myanmar 3-0 and didn't carry onto the final stage. Singapore won the 2012 cup, a 3-2 success on aggregate against Thailand.