Last minute

We've just played the first game of the second-half of the Metfone C-League. We are 12 points off the leaders after a goal-less draw with Cambo Tiger. And that in a nutshell sums up our season. Off the pace and off the goal-trail. Lots of reasons for it and how long have you got, but there's little point in crying over spilt milk, we have to grin and bear it, and get on with it. Clubs are allowed to change 2 foreigners and 3 locals in between the 1st and 2nd rounds of the season but at the 11th hour, the federation extended the deadline to the end of this month, as they said some clubs didn't have enough time to get new players, even though everyone knew about it for months in advance. We have been looking at many foreigners over the last few months, a few have been in on try out, unsuccessfully, others we've seen on video and tons more just offered by email and CVs. We have settled on two new faces, but their registrations are taking an age to complete, so we haven't announced them yet. Some names have got out but I won't confirm anything until we have all the t's crossed and the i's dotted. You never know we might just change our minds at the last minute, like the federation.

Olympic Stadium dangers

Some of the items found on the Olympic Stadium playing surface yesterday

The football authorities in this country don't do anything to help themselves. The Olympic Stadium is the no 1 pitch in the country, apparently. The groundsmen recently added some soil on top of the grass to a few areas which were a bit bare. Unfortunately they didn't check the quality of the soil first, or even afterwards. And no officials checked the pitch either. During warm-up before yesterday's game, these items, including glass, ceramics and iron shards were picked up from the pitch. This was just the first handful, we picked up a lot more. And we didn't have time to check the other 75% of the pitch. Obviously, these items can cause injury and what we found is a dereliction of duty of the first order. The match official we handed them to simply shrugged his shoulders. My first call would've been for the groundsmen to conduct a sweep of the pitch before the match started. Fat chance of that happening.

Who's in the frame?

The word on the street, so to speak, is that the Cambodia football federation will announce the name of the new head coach of the Cambodian national football team within the next week. It'll be good when they finally get around to doing it as the important AFF Suzuki Cup qualifiers are coming up in three months time (5-13 October in Myanmar) and in between time we have the bulk of the second half of the Metfone C-League to get through, whilst Phnom Penh Crown will then be involved in the AFC President's Cup in late September and the National Police team are off to Vietnam for a cup tournament. Not exactly leaving the new head coach with much time to prepare. No doubt, the coach, once appointed, will want to test out various players for his senior squad and will call on the clubs to release their players for training and friendly matches. Which will be inconvenient to say the least, as the clubs go hell for leather to make the four play-off qualifying places in the domestic league championship and then the sudden death deciders. I can definitely see a club v country problem rearing its ugly head in the near future. Planning the season to allow the national team to prepare properly for these Suzuki Cup qualifiers obviously didn't enter the heads of the federation planners.

That said, the main interest will be the name of the new head coach. The federation spokesman has already stated that they want to go with a local man, claiming that the country is now suitably stocked with A-licence coaches who can do the job. If they believe their own hype then they are living in cloud cuckoo land. The country may now have ten or so coaches - no-one is quite sure as the federation haven't officially announced the results of an A-licence coaching course that was held here a few months ago - but having the certificate is a long way from being able to coach a national team in international matches. The one man with previous experience in the role is Prak Sovannara, the coach at Naga and the country's AFC coaching instructor. He must be in the frame for the top job again, as will no doubt his brother, Prak Sokmony, who recently returned from an unsuccessful AFC U-22 Asian Cup qualifying attempt in Laos as coach of the U-22s. Other names bandied about include Pen Phat, a Khmer national team player from the 1960s who's since resided in France and coached at lower league levels over there, whilst an outside bet might be Ieng Saknida, assistant coach in the ill-fated Lee Tae-Hoon era which is now drawing to an ignominious close. The main problem is that all of them, including Sovannara to an extent, lack the essential ingredient of solid international coaching acumen at a suitably high enough level. They simply don't have the benefit of coaching national teams under their belt. My preference would be for a proven foreign coach to come in, bringing his experience and brains to the team and to help guide some of the younger local coaches who could be groomed to take over at a later date. I don't believe Cambodian football is yet ready to stand on its own two feet at national team level - the country's FIFA ranking fell seventeen places to an all-time lowest position of 192 in this week's latest table - and it requires suitable experience, maturity, guile and expertise to recover from the disastrous series of results under the departing coach.

Cambodian football fans need to see some semblance of improvement in their national team. Everyone wants to see the team winning, but we have to walk before we can run and we have not seen anything to shout about for too long. In fact the senior team has not even played a competitive or friendly match for more than a year. So the Suzuki Cup in October will be a tough test, with Cambodia one of five teams seeking the two qualification places. Myanmar, Brunei, Laos and Timor Leste are the others. With a new coach, an unknown squad of players that are still to be determined, and just three months to gel it all together, the man that the federation finally get around to appointing, will certainly have his work cut out in order to succeed.

What's next for the national team

The Cambodian U-22 national team conclude their AFC U-22 Asian Cup qualifying group matches this evening, when they play the hosts Laos at 7pm. Cambodia have already failed to qualify, winning their opening game against Hong Kong but falling well short in their next three matches against Thailand, China and North Korea. They'd like to save some face by beating Laos, but the host nation will also want to keep face with their own fans, so the likelihood is that Laos will prevail. I'll bring you the final result later tonight. Update: Cambodia managed a point from their final Group F match with a 3-3 draw with hosts Laos U-22s tonight, thanks to a penalty save from keeper Sou Yaty eight minutes from time. Chhin Chhoeun and Tith Dina put Cambodia ahead twice in the first-half but they still went in level pegging at the break. Laos took the lead just before the hour and then sub Phourng Soksana made it 3-3 minutes later. Pov Phearith came on as a sub and with two yellow cards in two minutes late on, saw red. Despite having the majority of possession, the home team couldn't quite satisfy a crowd of 9,800 with a winning goal.

Once the Cambodian team and coaches return from Laos, the Football Federation will have to make some snappy decisions about the future of the senior national team. They have already revealed that South Korean coach Lee Tae-Hoon is on his bike back to Korea after a thoroughly dismal 21 months in charge. The Federation have indicated in the media that they will look to go local with their next appointment. Presumably, they were hoping that Prak Sokmony's stint in charge of the U-22s would come up smelling of roses, but that hasn't happened. Despite the Federation's bravado of saying Cambodia now has a batch of coaches with A-Licence credentials, they are woefully devoid of credible international-level experience except Prak Sovannara, currently at the helm of NagaCorp. He would be the obvious choice, but the Federation may have other irons in the fire. We'll have to wait and see what they pull out of the hat this time around.

The next big competition involving Cambodia is not that far away. Qualification matches for the 2012 AFF Suzuki Cup will take place in early October in Myanmar against the hosts, Brunei, Laos and Timor Leste. Two teams will then progress to the competition proper, which will be split between hosts Thailand and Malaysia at the end of November. The complete lack of an international playing schedule of matches for the senior national team in preparation for the Suzuki Cup competition is a recipe for disaster, but will not come as a surprise to anyone. The last game for the senior national team was their World Cup fiasco in Laos last July. A year ago. All matches since that time have been at U-21, U-23 and U-22 level. This contrasts starkly with the Philippines for example, who have already scheduled twenty-plus matches for their national team leading up to the Suzuki Cup, including a tour of the United States, hosting a 4-team tournament as well as training camps in Bahrain and Japan. Now that's what I call planning ahead.

The bare facts

Soon to depart, Lee Tae-Hoon

The departure of Lee Tae-Hoon as the head coach of the Cambodian national football is pending, though I'm not sure why he hasn't left already as the senior team have not had a match since their World Cup debacle in Laos in July of last year, and he was overlooked as the coach of the U-22 team that open their AFC Asian Cup account later today. As football is a results-driven sport, let's take a look at Lee Tae-Hoon's twenty-one months in charge of the Cambodian team, following his arrival in August 2010, through the results his teams achieved. In competitive football, his selections played 21 matches, winning four times, drawing three and losing 14 games. They scored 29 goals and conceded 54. The competitions included the AFF Suzuki Cup, AFC Challenge Cup, FIFA World Cup, Mekong BIDC Cup, SEA Games and the Hassanal Bolkiah Trophy. His teams also played what could be classed as serious friendly matches. In these, his record was played 8, won 1, drawn 1 and lost six, scoring 6 goals and conceding 16. I haven't included the results of  another 15+ matches which his teams played against Metfone C-League clubs as warm-up games. Obviously, results don't tell the whole story, and I have covered in depth in many previous posts about my thoughts on his selections, his tactics and his results. I won't go over old ground again. Suffice to say I wasn't his greatest fan and really felt that he lost the plot when he gave such scant importance to our World Cup qualifying ambitions last year. That was simply inexcusable. Here are the results in black and white:

Competition Results:
22 Oct 2010 v Laos (AFF Suzuki Cup) Away. Drew 0-0
24 Oct 2010 v Timor Leste (AFF Suzuki Cup) Away. Won 4-2 Borey 3, Sinoun
26 Oct 2010 v Philippines (AFF Suzuki Cup) Away. Drew 0-0
9 Feb 2011 v Macau (AFC Challenge Cup Qual) Home. Won 3-1 El Nasa 2, Laboravy
16 Feb 2011 v Macau (AFC Challenge Cup Qual) Away. Lost 2-3 Borey, El Nasa
21 Mar 2011 v Maldives (AFC Challenge Cup) Away. Lost 0-4
23 Mar 2011 v Tajikistan (AFC Challenge Cup) Away. Lost 0-3
25 Mar 2011 v Kyrgyzstan (AFC Challenge Cup) Away. Lost 3-4 Sokumpheak, Rithy
29 Jun 2011 v Laos (World Cup Qual) Home. Won 4-2 Laboravy, El Nasa 2, Sokumpheak
3 Jul 2011 v Laos (World Cup Qual) Away. Lost 2-6 aet Chhoeun, Sokumpheak
9 Oct 2011 v Laos (Mekong BIDC Cup) Home. Won 2-0 Soksana, Laboravy
12 Oct 2011 v Myanmar (Mekong BIDC Cup) Home. Drew 2-2 Udom pen, Saray
14 Oct 2011 v Thailand (Mekong BIDC Cup) Home. Lost 1-2 Sovan
7 Nov 2011 v Indonesia (SEA Games) Away. Lost 0-6
9 Nov 2011 v Singapore (SEA Games) Away. Lost 1-2 Chhoeun
11 Nov 2011 v Thailand (SEA Games) Away. Lost 0-4
13 Nov 2011 v Malaysia (SEA Games) Away. Lost 1-4 Chhoeun
25 Feb 2012 v Brunei (Hassanal Bolkiah Trophy) Away. Lost 2-3 Udom pen, Vathanaka
27 Feb 2012 v Vietnam (HBT) Away. Lost 1-2 Vathanak
29 Feb 2012 v Timor Leste (HBT) Away. Lost 0-1
5 Mar 2012 v Malaysia (HBT) Away. Lost 1-3 Sothearath
Record: Pld 21 Won 4 Drew 3 Lost 14 Goals For 29 Agst 54


Friendlies:
18 Sep 2010 v Vietnam U-23 Away. Lost 0-2
21 Sep 2010 v Vietnam U-23 Away. Lost 0-3
5 Dec 2010 v Ulsan University Home. Lost 1-4 own goal
7 Jun 2011 v Malaysia Olympic XI Home. Won 1-0 Laboravy
28 Oct 2011 v Nepal U-23 Home. Lost 0-1
14 Jan 2012 v Malaysia U-23 Home. Lost 0-1
27 Jan 2012 v Ulsan University Home. Drew 3-3 Vathanaka, Chhoeun, S Udom
29 Jan 2012 v Ulsan University Home. Lost 1-2 Vathanaka

Record: Pld 8 Won 1 Drew 1 Lost 6 Goals For 6 Agst 16

"Very happy to be back"

Samrith Seiha pictured at national team training camp in 2008

"I'm very happy and pleased to join Phnom Penh Crown and to link up with my old friends Khim Borey and Kouch Sokumpheak with whom I've played many national team games at all levels. I'm also very happy to be back playing again after my time away from football. I really missed it," said Samrith Seiha when asked about his return to football after a two-year break from the game. Feeling disillusioned and carrying a nagging injury, Seiha called time on his football activities at what some would call the height of his young career, as the country's number 1 goalkeeper in 2010. He simply walked away in the same year that he'd won the Hun Sen Cup with his club team, the Ministry of National Defense, and the BIDC Cup with Cambodia's SEA Games line-up, where he picked up the goalkeeper of the tournament award. Still only 22 years old, Seiha is one of six siblings and hails from Phnom Penh Thmey in the Russey Keo district of the capital. He joined the Army team as a fourteen year old and quickly made his national team debut in the U-14 age group level. There was never any question about taking the gloves between the posts as far as Seiha was concerned. "I always wanted to be a goalkeeper, it was the only position for me," he said as he recalled his early days in which he represented both Wat Phnom High School as well as Santhormuk High School, who won the local Phnom Penh cup and came third in the national schools trophy. He also played university football for Asia Europe University but his main club team was always the Ministry of National Defense, though the relationship was often a rocky one. At the beginning of the 2009 season, Seiha and a handful of Army players including Khim Borey were suspended by the club after they lost a cup match. After a couple of months the club lifted the suspension and nothing more was said but it left a bitter taste. Nevertheless, the Army club rallied and captured the Hun Sen Cup beating Phnom Penh Crown in the final the following season. The young goalkeeper has represented Cambodia at U-14, U-17, U-19, U-21 and U-23 age group levels with distinction and made his Senior national team debut as a seventeen year old against Malaysia in a friendly international match in Malaysia in June 2007 under coach Scott O'Donell. A 6-nil drubbing didn't deter him and he quickly established himself as the national team's regular keeper, fighting off the challenge of Ouk Mic and others. That all came to an end when Seiha turned his back on the game two years ago but he's now back in the groove, raring to go, with his appetite refreshed and determined to get back to enjoying the game he loves so much. Phnom Penh Crown fans will be very pleased to hear that.

Seiha making his 2007 national team debut against Malaysia. Cambodia lost 6-0.

Seiha in action against Singapore in the 2008 AFF Suzuki Cup

Swell of support

I sense a swell of support amongst some of the footballing public here to give the soon-to-be-vacant Cambodian national team coaching job to a Khmer football hero of the past, Pen Phath. With South Korean Lee Tae-Hoon expected to vacate the hot-seat next month, Pen Phath's name has come into the frame, to coincide with a statement by the football federation that they are seeking a homegrown local to take charge of the national squad for the important AFF Suzuki Cup qualifiers in October. A federation spokesman suggested that now Cambodia has ten recently qualified AFC A-Licence coaches, then homegrown is the way to go. Personally, I feel that's a retrograde step at this time, when national morale is already at its lowest ebb for many years. My choice would be to appoint a suitably experienced foreign coach, with a thorough understanding of international football in this region, together with the best local coach for the two of them to work in tandem alongside each other, with a view to the local coach taking over in 12-15 months time. Only one local coach has any real bone fide international experience and that's Naga's Prak Sovannara, who had a previous stint in charge. None of the others, especially the recently qualified coaches, have the nous and know-how to operate at the level required, and that includes Pen Phath. A national team regular for a decade in the late 1960s, he later played in Thailand before moving to France where he played and coached at district level. He's also been involved in guiding the French-Khmer Select team that travelled to Phnom Penh in late 2010 and are returning for more games in August. However, that experience certainly doesn't pave the way to become the Cambodian national coach, anymore than one of the new A-qualified coaches, who have zero coaching experience at international level. Anything less than sticking with a tried and tested foreign coach will be courting further disasters to rival the twenty-one months of the Lee Tae-Hoon reign. I can of course sympathise with the desire to see a Khmer coach in charge of the national team but we have to face facts, and think with our head not our heart, as they aren't ready yet. It's simply too tough a task for any one of them to take on.

Services no longer required

Lee Tae-Hoon - his services will not be required any longer

I've just heard some news, late in the day, which has brought some relief from a very trying period in Cambodian football that pretty much everyone will want to forget. I'm referring to the reign of the Cambodian national football coach, Lee Tae-Hoon, over the past twenty-one months since his appointment in August 2010. I understand the head coach's contract will not be renewed when it comes to an end next month. This was a contract extension granted by the federation a year ago, though it's believed the bulk of the salary was donated by the South Korean FA. From the beginning, his stint in charge went pretty much nowhere. Aside from a home win over Laos in the World Cup, results from the games under his supervision in the big competitions such as the AFF Suzuki Cup, the AFC Challenge Cup, the FIFA World Cup and the SEA Games were an unmitigated disaster and left Cambodia lagging well behind their international team peers. There were no redeeming features of his time in charge that spring readily to mind - though his loyalty from the players never diminished - and in a results-driven business like football, the writing was on the wall over a year ago, and before he signed that contract extension. Why it has taken this long for the football federation to act is beyond my reasoning. Only they can answer the charges that should be levelled against them by every Cambodian football fan. Now we must await the deliberations of those same football authorities to see who will lead Cambodia at the AFF Suzuki Cup qualifiers, to be held in Myanmar between 5-13 October. The word is that they will seek a local coach to take charge. The fate of the nation's football future rests in their hands. It doesn't bear thinking about.

Foreign investments

Foreign sponsorship in Cambodian football continues unabated. In July 2009, the Cambodian football federation (FFC) joined forces with Vietnamese mobile telephone supplier Metfone in a sponsorship deal worth $1.5million over three years - that deal ends this year. For their money, Metfone got their name on the Cambodian Premier League as the exclusive sponsor as well as partnerships for the other competitions run by the federation. Before that, the FFC was bankrolled by a South Korean technology company. We wait to hear who will be the league's sponsors for next season. In the meantime, the FFC have announced a new sponsor, this time for the Cambodian national team, namely Thailand's largest sports equipment company called FBT (Football Thai Factory Sporting Goods), who will provide sponsorship to the tune of $65,000 a year for the next 4 years. Presumably they'll also chuck in a few new playing strips and tracksuits as part of the package. Isn't it sad that the Cambodian national team is sponsored by a private Thai company. That would suggest Cambodian companies have yet to be convinced that football is a worthwhile vehicle for their sponsorship dollars, or that the FFC have chosen to look outside the country's boundaries for their cash. Continuing the theme of sponsorship from outside the country, Preah Khan Reach have just announced a $100,000, one-year deal with a Vietnamese bank. The Saigon-Hanoi Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SHB) have decided to throw their weight behind the military police-backed club with money that will be used, according to the club's secretary, to buy equipment, food and to double the wages of the coach and his team.

PKR officials with their new sponsors including PKR's coach in blue

More lives than a cat

Lee Tae-Hoon will keep his job and take Cambodia to the Suzuki Cup

The next big competition for the Cambodian national team is the qualification stages for the AFF Suzuki Cup 2012. This will be held in Myanmar between 5-13 October. More on that later. The astounding news that has crept out this weekend is that Lee Tae-Hoon will remain in charge of the national team and will lead them into the Suzuki Cup. This is after what has been the most dismal set of results in Cambodian football history during the last 19 months of his reign. I was joking when I said he's had more lives than your average cat. But it's true. How the heck can this man keep his job, as the head coach of a national football team, when in any other country, indeed, any other walk of life, he has failed to produce time and again, in every competition, even when playing what are the minnows of world football. Just back from an embarrassing four-game debacle in Brunei in the U-21 (+ overage players) tournament, the FFC have been as quiet as a mouse, as they always are, hoping that public opinion and calls for the coach's head will die down after a day or two. When asked, the FFC general secretary has said that Lee Tae-Hoon will continue to lead Cambodia, but won't be involved in the new U-22 competition in June, so he has more time to concentrate on the Suzuki Cup. So, essentially they relieve him of the U-22 duties, which have been handed to Prak Somony, but give him their backing to continue the appalling job he's been doing for the past 19 months with the senior team. Absolutely mind-numbing. I don't believe that any other country would put up with this situation. If there had been some evidence of improvement in players, tactics, formations, anything really, then they might have a case. But there has been zero sign of improvement, in fact we are falling behind every other country in the region and are being left behind by the countries that were previously the whipping boys. That moniker now belongs to Cambodia under Lee Tae-Hoon. Cambodian football fans have lost all hope and confidence in this coach. The only backing he has is in the corridors of the FFC, who pointedly refuse and refute the wishes of the footballing public. That is the current state of international football in Cambodia.

Back to the AFF Suzuki Cup. The draw will be made on 11 July involving the five teams who will meet in Myanmar in October, with the top two teams qualifying to join the six seeded Asean teams. The five potential qualifiers are Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Timor Leste and hosts, Myanmar. Two from that line-up will join Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam to make up the eight-team finals to be held jointly in Malaysia and Thailand. This is the highlight of the international calendar for Cambodia this year and it appears that Lee Tae-Hoon is the man tasked with pulling rabbits out of a hat to ensure our qualification for the final round which will be held in December. With his record, that is never going to happen.

Potpourri

Newcomers to the C-league this season, the Rubbermen of Boeung Ket

Tomorrow sees the Cambodian football league finally getting under way. The Metfone-sponsored C-League will kick-off at 2pm with last season's runners-up Naga Corp taking on the National Police. Naga will be without their 4 close season signings (Sun Sovannrithy, Thul Sothearith, San Narith, Sun Sopanha) from Phnom Penh Crown as they are all suspended but they could be strengthened by their three new Nigerian imports, Badmus Bolaji, Ajetunmobi Kunle and Nofiu Lawal, if their ITC's and work permits have come through. Their top scorer last term with 28 goals, Julius Oiboh, who so nearly took Naga to the title all on his own, is expected to play his football in Thailand this time around. I just hope the Police manage to stay on the pitch to see the game out as they have a nasty habit of walking when the going gets tough. The champions, Phnom Penh Crown would've been expected to start the season off, but as the federation want them to play Preah Khan Reach, and as the Military Police team are in Malaysia playing in their FA Cup, then that mouthwatering league game has been put back until Wednesday 21 March.

The 2nd match up tomorrow, at 4pm, is Kirivong against the new faces of Boeung Ket Rubber Field FC, or the Rubbermen as I'll call them this season. With ex-Crown manager Be Makara at the helm, the Kompong Cham-based team have been busy bees in the transfer market signing a host of players who were plying their trade in Thailand last term. They include ex-Crown men Keo Sokngorn, Srey Veasna, Friday Nwakuna and Chan Rithy as well as Sin Dalin and Ly Ravy. They've also picked up Peng Bunchhay, Takahito Ota and Hong Ratana after their release by Crown, as well as other well-known local like Oum Kumpheak, Touch Pancharong and Lar Pichseyla. Add three Nigerians, Bisan George, Sumaila Momoh and Daniel Omachoko to the mix and you have an interesting-looking squad. They should be a force to be reckoned with if they can get their star men firing on all cylinders. Sunday's matches see Chhlam Samuth face BBU and the Army against Western University.

Talking of the Army, they appear to be sticking their oar in again concerning any player that dares to have the temerity to seek his footballing fortunes elsewhere. We have already seen the shambolic situation in the Hun Sen Cup a few weeks ago when the federation initially allowed Khim Borey (Crown) and Sin Dalin (Boeung Ket) to play in the competition and then mysteriously closed the door on them after the Army rattled their cage. Both players were left twiddling their thumbs in the stands and their respective coaches fuming at the FFC's decision. After that, the word from the federation was that both players would be okay to play in the C-League, but more sabre-rattling from the Army has again cast that in doubt. The Phnom Penh Post carried a preview of their opening game today and allegations by the Army's former coach even expanded the situation into something rather more sinister and serious. Commenting on an exodus of players that includes Pheak Rady, Oum Kumpheak and Touch Sokheng, Op Sam An suggested they may find difficulty in playing for new clubs as they are still registered military officials and had fled the club when accused of match-fixing. "It is destroying soccer [in the country] and the whole club." As to what the former coach is alluding to is not public knowledge, though a handful of players were suspended by the Army for alleged match-fixing some three years ago. Rather than cast a slur on the reputation of professional players who want to leave the Army club, Op Sam An needs to front up with any evidence he has of players involved in rigging matches, or ask the federation to investigate, or shut up. I would also expect the Phnom Penh Post to follow-up on his allegations to see whether this stain on football has found its way into the Cambodian game, as it has elsewhere in Asia. If it is proved that any player or any club is guilty of such action, the federation and the AFC should throw the book at them. If the allegations are false, anybody crying wolf should be severely censured.

After the debacle of the Cambodia U-21 (+ overage players) showing in the Brunei tournament over the past week, with four defeats in four games, two of which were against sides that we should've beaten with our eyes closed and our legs tied together, the 18-strong playing party have returned to these shores to link up, rather belatedly, with their domestic teams. Hardly ideal preparation for the start of the new C-League, and an example of the way football is administered in these parts. Also missing a month of preparation have been members of the AFC A Licence coaching course that has been taking place locally. Many of the 26 participants are with C-League teams like Army, Police, Boeung Ket and BBU and Naga's head coach, Prak Sovannara was the main instructor. It's frightening really, the timing of such a course when you look at the country's footballing schedule. Last but not least, the C-League games will be screened live by a new television channel this season. Apsara have taken over from TVK, who took over from CTN last season. It appears that TVK are more interested in political matters this year than football. The first league match every Saturday and Sunday will be beamed live into homes by Apsara.

No reward for failure

Sacked Vietnam coach Falko Goetz ponders his future

Have Vietnam got their priorities right? They have sacked their German national team coach Falko Goetz, just seven months into his tenure, for an abysmal performance in the recent SEA Games. They finished 4th and for the Vietnam football federation, that was clearly unacceptable. Talking to the press, they pointed out the German coach had introduced an unsuitable playing style while failing to use the right players and create stability within the team. Vietnam's U-23s picked up 4th spot after a humiliating 4-1 loss to Myanmar in the bronze medal play-off, and after losing 2-0 to Indonesia in the semi-final. Goetz was the eighth foreign coach of Vietnam since 1995. He had already offered suggestions to restrict the number of foreign players at clubs in order to give more opportunities to locals and additional team places for younger players, before the curtain came down on his stint in charge. It seems the Vietnam federation won't tolerate failure, which is the complete opposite of their Cambodian counterparts, who perversely reward failure. Cambodia returned from the SEA Games with a sorry record, played 4, lost 4. Yet the Cambodian federation had already increased the contract of the South Korean coach (Lee Tae-Hoon) after 14 months of uninspiring and insipid football, where the team had failed in every competition they had entered. Now Lee is testing a batch of young players ahead of an unofficial regional U-21 tournament in Brunei at the end of February, with a view to preparing for Cambodia's next big senior competition, the AFF Suzuki Cup in October. This will be Cambodia's major international focus for 2012 and they will enter the qualifying rounds in Myanmar, which will determine who will join the big boys in the group stages, to be played in Malaysia and Thailand the following month. Cambodia failed to qualify for the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup to be held in Nepal in March.

An Asean Super Football League is back on the agenda, after Asean Sports Ministers recently agreed on a Malaysian proposal to form such a league competition. The Super League would feature the leading football teams from all Asean countries. The proposal will be discussed in greater depth by the chief executive officers of all the leagues involved in the middle of next month in Kuala Lumpur.

Cambodia off to Brunei

I've just heard that Cambodia will be sending an U-21 team to Brunei in late February to compete in the Hassanal Bolkiah Trophy that will take place between 25 Feb - 5 March. This tournament, an unofficial U-21 competition for ASEAN countries, has been on-hold for the last few years as Brunei Darussalam were suspended from all competitions by FIFA. That ban was lifted in the middle of this year just in time for Brunei to take part in the recent SEA Games. I've been harking on about better quality opposition for the national team and a well-structured build-up programme towards the qualifying rounds for the AFF Suzuki Cup next October, and this goes part of the way to fulfilling that requirement, though the HB Trophy is essentially an U-21 tournament although the rules have been changed this year to allow a handful of over-age players. Meanwhile, the Suzuki Cup is for the senior Cambodian team. What doesn't sit well is that the tournament looks like it will be smack-bang in the middle of the latter stages of the Hun Sen Cup and the preparation of teams for the Metfone C-League. I've yet to see the revised dates for the Hun Sen Cup, as they keep changing them, and no start date has yet been fixed for the C-League campaign to get underway. For the national coach, South Korean Lee Tae-Hoon, it will be an opportunity to wipe some of the egg off his face after the SEA Games debacle when his charges went down in all four matches and exited the SEA Games with a whimper. The timing isn't great though, as players will be called up for training for the U-21s when they should be getting good pre-season fitness and tactical sessions under their belt with their individual teams ahead of their involvement in the Hun Sen Cup, and later the league campaign. The tournament in Brunei just about ticks the box in terms of the start of serious Suzuki Cup preparation, but much more is needed, particularly tough, high-profile friendly matches at senior team level, which doesn't include Korean university teams or 2nd-rate Vietnam club sides. Brunei have just returned from the international wilderness after a two-year plus ban was lifted so they could compete in the recent SEA Games, where they did pretty well, beating Philippines, drawing with Laos and losing against Timor Leste, Myanmar and Vietnam. Cambodia's U-23s lost all four of their SEA Games matches. Brunei's only professional club DPMM FC are rejoining the Singapore League after their football federation's FIFA reprieve and the 2012 Hassanal Bolkiah Trophy will be the 4th time that Brunei has hosted the tournament. Indonesia won it in 2002 and then Thailand claimed the prize in 2005 and 2007 before the competition was suspended. In that 2007 competition, Cambodia's results were as follows: Brunei D2-2, Myanmar L0-7, Philippines W6-0, Thailand L1-10. For the record, in the FIFA world rankings, Cambodia lie at 170 whilst Brunei wallow at 202, as you'd expect for a team who haven't played for a few years.

Football age cheats

In the English game, either at club or national team level, there is zero possibility of age cheating. All births are centrally registered and players have just one birthdate throughout their playing careers. That's my background. This is not the case in Cambodia, or other Asian countries for that matter, where players have their real age but are often saddled with a separate football age by club or national team coaches. It's such a common occurrence in Cambodia that few see it as a dilemma, and has been sanctioned by coaches over many years. But put simply, it's cheating and is a shameful practice that must be stamped out at all levels, both in international and domestic competitions.
The reason why Cambodian coaches break the rules is to try to gain an advantage in youth competitions, particularly in age-level tournaments, and because they think they can get away with it. Take the Asian Football Confederation's U-14 festival of football championships as an example. A youngster must be 14 or under to play in the competition. It's the coach who decides who he wants to select and if a youngster was overage, at say 15 or 16, the player's birthdate was changed and a passport issued to allow the youngster to travel and compete. The date on his original birth certificate, if he has one, was ignored. That football age will then stay with the player throughout his football career. It will also mean that if the player continues his development and retains his place in the national team squads, it will perpetuate the age cheating all the way through to the SEA Games (at U-23 level). It's clearly wrong and does the game a serious injustice.
The AFC, who initially used X-rays to determine the accurate age of players, and who now use the more reliable MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) tests, have sent a clear message to all Asian countries that age cheating will not be tolerated. They disqualified Korea, Tajikistan and Iraq from the 2008 AFC U-16 championships and then banned eight players during the 2010 event for trying to cheat the system. It looks like the bad old days of age cheating at international competitions has come to an end for the most part, though we still need to ensure a level playing field in domestic age-level competitions being played in Cambodia for this practice to be eradicated forever.

Thinking ahead

In looking towards the future of Cambodian football, I think anyone with a brain knows that a structured grassroots program of developing young and talented individuals is the way forwards for any country. You have to get the youngsters early enough, drill good habits into them by coaches who know what they're doing alongwith an enjoyment of the game, and avoid the bad habits that the adult players of today never had the opportunity to avoid. This needs the combined efforts of the football federation in offering up a development plan for the future, an organized schools program that features sports as a key element of the school curriculum and professional clubs to set up and develop their own quality youth programs. We are a long way away from that structure in Cambodia at this moment in time. Currently, only one club has an academy, essentially spending money now building for the future as their goal, whilst some clubs have youth teams on the go, but the federation has no plan that anyone is aware of and the schools involvement is completely missing. Meanwhile, other countries are light years ahead of us. Take the Philippines as an example. With the help of the German FA, they are evaluating their own grassroots program and already training 8-year-olds from all over the country with the AFC Youth and World Championships of 2017 and 2019 in mind. What long term planning does the Cambodian federation have? None that anyone knows about. They tick boxes by holding annual championships at various age levels but they are pretty meaningless as age-cheating is rife and the winners are easy to pick before the competition begins. Much of the grassroots work is being done by groups such as Indochina Starfish and the SALT Academy, rather than the football federation, who should be at the helm of a fully integrated youth development program.

Even if the federation wake-up, join forces with the government and introduce a serious development plan for the future, that won't improve the sorry, sad state that our national team find themselves in at this time. I've already said my piece about the national team coach, so I won't discuss his failures of the last fifteen months again. Instead, how the heck do we turn the tide around and start improving our performances. Besides appointing a new coach, with the right credentials and experience, there are some options that we can consider. Our preparation has to improve, dramatically in my view. There is a dearth of suitably tough friendly matches, our players are not tested against the best the region has to offer, outside of competition, and games against local clubs or university sides from Korea simply don't cut the mustard. Malaysia for example, sent their U-23 squad to Slovakia for months on end and have reaped the rewards with a string of successes. This is something the federation have failed miserably to manage properly and need to improve in the future. They also need to think outside the box, instead of their predictable boot camps in Vietnam. Another avenue to bolster the make-up of the national team is to consider reinforcing the squad with foreign-based Cambodian nationals. I'm not talking about naturalizing players such as Singapore and Vietnam are prone to do, but taking a long, hard look at players with Khmer parentage, who are currently playing for teams in the Unites States, France and elsewhere. In recent months a few names have been banded about the internet, and I think the federation should bite the bullet, invite the best of them for trials with the national team and take it from there. They have nothing to lose and the fresh impetus from a handful of new faces should have a positive effect on the current national team squad. You might ask how the federation would pay for such extravagances, well, they receive substantial annual handouts from FIFA and of course sponsors like Metfone and don't have a grassroots program in place at the moment, so they must be awash with money.

The FFC view

In an interview with the Football Federation of Cambodia's spokesman, May Tola, in today's Phnom Penh Post, it's clear that the FFC have absolutely no intention of changing the man in charge of the Cambodian national team, Lee Tae-Hoon, who has presided over a litany of disappointing results and early exits from all competitions since he took over fifteen months ago. In explaining the Federation's position, Tola effectively said the FFC know what they are doing, they have the experience and the knowledge, they are fully responsible, they won't listen to public opinion or what he called 'non-technical people's opinions' and that Lee is suitably qualified in technical and player management skills. He said that FFC have no reason to replace the coach and that, in their view, the team is improving.
Though you wouldn't expect him to say anything less, as the FFC are the ones who employed the South Korean coach, albeit the Korean FA pay the man's salary, and who recently gave him an extension to his contract through to July 2012. They simply don't have the balls to admit they made a big mistake in giving the job to someone with the absolute minimum of coaching experience - two spells as assistant coach of the Korean women's team - and who has spent the last fifteen months treading water. I challenge the FFC spokesman to explain exactly how the national team's performances are improving. They look tactically naive, players are played out of position, key players have been ignored, tossed aside or benched, fitness has overshadowed mental toughness and tactical nous, and there is no obvious indication that we are moving in the right direction. Meanwhile, we see countries at our level improving their results and leaving us behind in their wake. But it seems, the FFC are happy to back their choice of coach to the hilt, in the face of mounting criticism from the kingdom's football-loving public.

Looking ahead to 2012

Next month's SEA Games will be the main focus for the Cambodian national team, even though it's being played at U-23 age level, until the latter part of next year, 2012, when the qualifiers for the 2012 AFF Suzuki Cup will take place. Fortunately, Cambodia didn't have to qualify for the SEA Games, though the 'group of death' in which they've been drawn - which includes Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand - makes it impossible for them to progress. That's a given. After the team return from the SEA Games, there will be a barren international programme until those Suzuki Cup qualifiers in October next year, which will unveil the countries for the finals, two months later, to be held in Malaysia and Thailand. Lee Tae-Hoon was the coach in charge when we failed to qualify for the last finals in October 2010 with Laos and Philippines getting the nod instead. Next year will also see the finals of the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup, the AFC's second-tier of international competition behind the AFC Asian Cup. Cambodia won't be there as earlier this year, we lost out to Maldives, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in the qualifying rounds. The host of the finals will be Nepal in March next year. And of course, there will be no World Cup qualifying matches to look forward to either. So a pretty lifeless few months ahead for the Cambodian national team after the SEA Games, though that's exactly when the football federation and the national coach should be arranging a series of international friendly matches that will test the squad, bring them much-needed practice against higher-standard opposition and boost their confidence ahead of the Suzuki Cup qualifiers. Matches against C-League teams, Korean university teams and a training camp in Vietnam do not cut the mustard, the federation have to be much braver than they have in the past, and start engaging far better opponents for the national team. In the run up to the SEA Games, Malaysia have spent three months in a training camp in Slovakia for example. Or look at Nepal, who Cambodia meet in a friendly game in Phnom Penh on 28 October. They've been preparing for the South Asian Football Federation Cup with an overseas tour of Philippines, Malaysia, Cambodia and Thailand. Both countries have been thinking outside the box. Something our football federation are not renowned for. Do I think anything will change? Most likely not, but we can always live in hope.

Chain-pulling?

The Cambodian national squad in chain-pulling mode

Team photographs in Asia, and in particular Cambodia, often make me wince. Here are two examples. The bottom one is a Preah Khan Reach line-up three years ago, which is nothing short of ridiculous and has shaped my view of the PKR team ever since (just kidding). I must admit I'm a traditionalist when it comes to much in football, including the off-the-cuff team photo. I still prefer one knee on the ground for those in the front row but I'm often ignored when I ask for this style. The top photo was one I came across today and I must say, it's one I took an instant dislike to. Who on earth would ask the players to hold their right hand up in the first place - presumably to suggest that the team were ready for action and showing their fighting spirit (though in England it's more akin to pulling a toilet chain) - and what numbskull of a coach agreed for the picture to be taken? I've seen it before by the U-16 national team and it made me wince then, but it was understandable because the boys are young and don't know any better, but to see it from the senior national team just about takes the biscuit.

Preah Khan Reach must've done this for a bet

Cambodia draw 2-2

The Cambodian starting XI. Back Row LtoR: Udom, Pheng, Vichet, Rady, Rithy, Sovan. Front Row: Chhoeurn, Souhana, Veasna, Sothearath (capt), Dalin

As expected the rain didn't stay away from the Olympic Stadium this afternoon and made the pitch a quagmire by the time Cambodia faced Myanmar in the 5.30pm kick-off. The outcome of this MRYUIFTBIDC Cup (aka BIDC Cup) match looked to be heading Myanmar's way once Lee Tae-Hoon announced his starting line-up. Making seven changes from the team that beat Laos 2-0 on Saturday, it looked like the South Korean coach had handed the initiative to his German opponent Gerd Zeise, the Myanmar coach, by fielding what anyone would call a second string team. But that wasn't taking into account the battling qualities of the Cambodians nor the man-mountain performances put in by the central defensive partnership of Sok Rithy and Sok Sovan and the non-stop engine of Chhun Sothearath. The trio were absolutely outstanding throughout. The final score of 2-2 was perhaps fair enough though Zeise was shouting at the Vietnamese referee at the end of the game, claiming he'd deliberately avoided giving two late penalties and in his aftermatch tv interview, he suggested; "we played against 13 tonight, including 11 Cambodians, 1 referee and 1 linesman. We deserved better." The result now pairs Cambodia against the hot favourites Thailand in Friday's semi-final, with Myanmar facing Vietnam in the other one. Chin Chhoeurn's free-kick was punched out to kick-start the action early on, before Sok Rithy made the first of his goal-saving clearances after Um Vichet had missed his kick in the clogging mud. Sos Souhana missed his header just after before Chhun Sothearath's 25-yard range-finder was tipped over the top by Myanmar keeper Pyaye Phyo Aung. Myanmar drew first blood on 24 minutes when Samuth Dalin's attempted clearance allowed Thet Naing to sprint into the box and cross to the far post where Thiha Zaw got the jump on Sok Sovan to slot inside the post. PPCFC's Sok Pheng limped out of the game just after the half-hour, to be replaced by Tum Saray and it was his surge through the mud, with the ball, that put Souhana in on goal, only for Hein Thiha Zaw to bring him down and set up Cambodia's equaliser from the penalty spot. Prak Mony Udom kept his nerve to complete the task with five minutes of the 1st half left on the clock. In the last minute a Sovan header looked destined for the net until Aung clawed it away and the teams went in all square at the break.

Seven minutes after the restart and Cambodia got their noses in front. Sothearath and Chin Chhoeurn combined on the right flank to set up Saray but Aung blocked his close-range effort, only for less than thirty seconds to elapse before Sothearath's cross found an unmarked Saray three yards from goal and he nodded in with glee. The large crowd erupted in unison. Both teams made changes and it was one of Myanmar's that worked a treat. Yan Naing Htwe had been on the pitch for just a minute when he took advantage of the ball sticking in the mud, held off Rithy and whacked the ball into the net on 66 minutes for the leveller. The game petered out until the Myanmar bench were up in arms over two claims for penalties that had merit from the touchline but were waved away by the match officials in the final minute. Home keeper Vichet came up for a corner in injury time to try and grab a late winner but it was Myanmar who broke and looked set to score until Sok Rithy performed another of his miraculous last-ditch saving tackles.
Cambodia line-up: Vichet, Rady, Dalin, Sovan, Rithy, Veasna, Sothearath, Chhoeurn (Laboravy 57), PM Udom (Phearith 69), Souhana, Pheng (Saray 32). Subs not used: Yaty, Raksmey, Daravorn, Pancharong, Soksana, Sokngorn. Bookings: Sovan, Veasna.

The Phnom Penh Crown duo, Sok Pheng (left) and Sok Sovan

Waiting for the national anthem. LtoR: Dalin, Udom, Pheng, Sovan, Rithy

The Cambodian bench with coach Lee Tae-Hoon on the far right

The Myanmar starting line-up with a captain already on the move

Later today

If you are going to the two MRYUIFTBIDC Cup matches this afternoon, take a raincoat, umbrella and wellies. It's guaranteed to rain. The sloshing around on the Olympic pitch will begin at 3.30pm when Thailand meet Vietnam, in what should be a closely-fought encounter, if the teams are allowed to play their normal game, unrestricted by the conditions. Both teams will play their U-19 line-ups, which recently clashed in the final of the AFF U-19 championships played in Myanmar, a game which Thailand won on penalties, so with that as the latest form guide, this match could be a close call as well. Thailand thrashed the Chinese club side 7-2 in their last match, after Vietnam had drawn 1-1 with them, in a match ruined by the weather and on-field antics by the Hongxiang players and coaching staff. So the Thais seem to have the edge but never write off the Vietnamese.
In the second game at 5.30pm, the Cambodian U-21 team, with over-age players included, will meet the U-19s from Myanmar, who looked well in control when they eased to a 4-0 win over Laos a couple of days ago. Cambodia beat Laos 2-0 on the opening day of the competition and have had a good rest since then, so might just have the fresh legs to give the Burmese team a run for their money. With a victory under their belts already, the two teams have guaranteed qualification for the semi-finals, so this match will determine who tops the group. Both teams have foreign coaches, German-born Gerd Zeise (pictured) is in charge of Myanmar having previously worked in Germany, Belgium, Vietnam and the Maldives, whilst Lee-Tae-Hoon from South Korea is the man with the task of overseeing Cambodia through this competition and into next month's SEA Games. Lee's previous experience was as assistant coach to the South Korean national women's team.