Cambodia's World Cup schedule

The Asian section of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification 2nd Round draw was made today and placed Cambodia (after their 1st Round success over Macau) in the same group as Japan, Syria, Afghanistan and Singapore. The countries will play home & away games (8 matches each) to determine who will progress to the 3rd Round as well as the Asian Cup.
Cambodia's matches will take place as follows:
11 Jun: Cambodia vs Singapore
16 Jun: Cambodia vs Afghanistan
3 Sep: Japan vs Cambodia
8 Sep: Cambodia vs Syria
13 Oct: Singapore vs Cambodia
12 Nov: Afghanistan vs Cambodia
17 Nov: Cambodia vs Japan
24 Mar 16: Syria vs Cambodia.
Note: It looks like Cambodia will travel to Jordan to play the away game with Syria, as they do not play their 'home' matches in Syria because of the on-going conflict there. And Afghanistan are likely to play their 'home' matches in Tajikistan.

Phnom Penh Crown's influential midfielder Bin Thierry gave his views after he heard the FIFA World Cup draw had paired the Cambodia national team against Japan, Syria, Afghanistan and Singapore in their 2nd Round group. Thierry, who is currently on holiday in Canada, had this to say: "I just woke up and saw the draw and it's a wonderful opportunity for Cambodia, the players and of course, the fans. This will be a fantastic experience. For sure, our group is very hard but we will give our very best in every game. What we will need is for everyone in Cambodia to support and cheer for us in each match. I can't wait for the games to begin."

Another two years

Thierry signs on the dotted line - click to enlarge

Another piece of the jigsaw was slotted into place today as midfield playmaker Bin Thierry signed on the dotted line for another two years with Phnom Penh Crown, extending his contract until 2016. Thierry is currently training with the Cambodia national team ahead of the Suzuki Cup and is very pleased to commit himself to Crown. "I'm extremely happy to sign for two more years and to remain in Cambodia. I love the club, the players, the staff and I'm very excited to stay, especially to play in the AFC Cup next year. It was great to win the championship, even though I played only half the season, but I was there all the time, supporting my teammates - it was great for the club and the players to get this success, which we deserved. The big difference was that everyone played for each other and for the team, we were united together as one," he said whilst signing his new contract. Head coach Sam Schweingruber, currently on FIFA duty in China, had this to say. "He was my very first signing when I joined Crown soon 2 years ago. He has lots of potential and was unlucky with injury and suspension this year. We know of his qualities and importance and I am very excited that he has chosen to be with us for the next 2 years - rejecting better offers from our competitors and staying committed to our project and team. I would like to thank Thierry for his trust in me as a coach and I am committed to further help develop him to reach his goals for the club and personally. Hopefully next season will be the best we have ever seen from Thierry. He is now focusing on his national team duties, where I believe he will also be the star player in the upcoming Suzuki Cup campaign." Thierry was born in Paris, the son of Battambang-born Khmer parents, and played in France until he joined Crown in October 2012. Now 23 years old, he impressed on a tour of Cambodia by the Khmer-Europe XI.  As a youngster, he was at the RC Strasbourg academy and played for the Paris District U-14s and the France U-16 national team before spells at FC Saint-Jean-Le-Blanc and Aubervilliers. He’s a natural left-footed midfield player who quickly became a crowd favourite and who represented Cambodia in the last SEA Games in Myanmar. Injury and suspension interrupted his championship-winning season.

Singapore success

The Cambodia U-23s v Singapore. Back Row: Yaty, Sovan, Soksana, Sokngon, Samoeun, Rithy. Front: Saray, Pancharong, Sothearath, Suhana, Chhoeun - click to enlarge, pic courtesy of B P Chua/aXrosstheline.com

The Cambodian U-23s are in Singapore for a couple of friendly matches, as part of the final leg of their preparation for the SEA Games next month. Last night they played what was called a Singapore U-23 B team and will be cock-a-hoop that they came away with a 1-0 success, courtesy of a Chan Vathanaka goal on 72 minutes. A result they wouldn't have expected but will be very happy with. Any result away from home in international competition is never easy to come by for a country like Cambodia. Especially playing on the all-weather surface at Jalan Besar against a team well-versed in the conditions. We can safely assume that Singapore will have got a rocket from their coach in the dressing room after the match. Phnom Penh Crown's Sou Yaty and Sos Suhana both started the game in what looked like Lee Tae-Hoon's favoured starting eleven. There's a view held by Lee and other coaches that wunderkind Vathanaka cannot last ninety minutes, which is why he is used as a game-changing substitute by club and country. It worked again last night. Though, how the heck a 19-year-old professional footballer cannot last 90 minutes is beyond me. Expect the same tactic in the SEA Games. Lee's comments after their success: “We have never played on artificial pitch before, and we had also played five games in 15 days before this. There is little recovery time and the players are tired. But every time we win, we’re very happy!" Obviously the happy moments are few and far between under Lee.

The second friendly is on Sunday night on a different pitch and apparently, has been deemed a full A-list FIFA-recognised international. Which is obviously bonkers. The Cambodian squad is clearly their U-23s with Tieng Tiny sitting on the bench as their only 'official' over-age player. The Singapore team is said to be their U-23 A team, ie. the one that will play in the SEA Games. Those two facts alone would negate that the match is a senior international - but whatever, the result will count as far as FIFA-ranking points are concerned. Though perhaps the biggest surprise is the return to the national team fold by Crown's mercurial midfield playmaker, Bin Thierry, who announced the following on Facebook on Saturday morning: "I have been asked to return to the Cambodia national team, and have agreed. I will rejoin the national team in Singapore today." Short and sharp and to the point, Thierry flew out mid-day and met his teammates for a training session on Saturday night after, just twelve days ago, announcing his retirement from international football for personal reasons, which he never divulged. The uproar by the Cambodian footballing public at that news could be heard as far away as Singapore, so at least the clamour for his return will die down.

Thierry shocker

Bin Thierry has announced that he is retiring from international football

Breaking news...Bin Thierry, Phnom Penh Crown's playmaking midfielder who starred for Cambodia U-23s in the recent BIDC Cup matches, has stunned the Khmer football fraternity by announcing his retirement from international football with immediate effect. No reasons were given, just that it was a painful and difficult decision for the French-born player, who would not say any more on the background to his decision. This was his statement:
"Anyone that knows me will understand that one of the proudest moments of my life was pulling on the Cambodian national football team jersey to represent the country of my parents birth. Playing for the Khmer-Europe team and being welcomed to Cambodian football by Phnom Penh Crown FC was the start of a fantastic journey for me. It made the possibility of playing for Cambodia a reality and I was very happy to be selected for the Cambodia U-23 SEA Games squad. To then play against Malaysia, Laos and Thailand in the BIDC Cup was a dream come true. My dad even came over from France to watch my matches. The support and encouragement of the Cambodian football fans has made the experience even better than I could've ever hoped for. For these reasons, it is with considerable regret that I am announcing my retirement from the Cambodian national football team, with immediate effect due to personal reasons, which I will not divulge at this time. This has been a very painful and difficult decision for me to make, but with the support of the people closest to me, I believe it is one I have to make. LONG LIVE CAMBODIA!"
The online reaction to the news has been one of incredulity, after the player lived up to his messiah-like reputation in last week's matches in the BIDC Cup. Cambodia were using the competition as a warm-up for their trip to Myanmar in the SEA Games at the start of next month. Now, they will have to do without arguably their most influential player. Meanwhile, Thierry will join his Crown colleagues for a week-long tournament in Nanning, southern China from Thursday of this week.

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.