Warm-ups

3 PPCFC players, Khim Borey (left), Tieng Tiny and Sos Suhana, fly out to join the main squad. Pic courtesy of Khim Borey

The Cambodian national team are in their final stretch of preparations for the AFF Suzuki Cup qualification matches which begin this Friday when they meet Timor Leste in Myanmar, one of four matches in a space of a week that will determine their immediate future, in coach Hok Sochetra's first big test of his reign. On Saturday, minus the Phnom Penh Crown trio of Khim Borey, Tieng Tiny and Sos Suhana, the Cambodian squad drew 3-3 with Courts Young Lions, the feeder team for the Singapore U-23s side. The visiting national team goals came from Prak Mony Udom, Phoung Soksana and Teab Vathanak, after the Young Lions led 2-1 at half-time. Tomorrow they will be back in Malaysia, where they've had a two-week training camp, to play a final warm-up against a Malaysian team and then they will head to Myanmar for their moment of truth. It's not clear which team the Malaysians will play, their senior side or their U-23s, as the main squad are preparing for their own Suzuki Cup involvement in November with matches against Hong Kong and Vietnam. The three Phnom Penh Crown players flew out to join the national squad at noon today, after returning in the early hours from their AFC President's Cup trip to Tajikistan. Cambodia begin their Suzuki Cup qualifiers against Timor Leste on Friday and then meet Laos (7 Oct), Brunei (9 Oct) and Myanmar (11 Oct).

An encouraging stalemate

The Phnom Penh Crown trio who started for Cambodia tonight. LtoR Tieng Tiny, Sos Suhana, Khim Borey

Hok Sochetra's Cambodian team must be congratulated for not conceding against an international opponent some 38 places above them in the FIFA world rankings. That in itself is no mean feat and add to that the fact that the Philippines have been in overseas training camp and are playing a glut of friendly matches, and Cambodia did pretty well in what was their first serious game in over a year. Admittedly, not too much was seen from Cambodia in an offensive capacity and Philippines held the upper hand for spells during tonight's match, but there wasn't too much to choose between the two teams and let's not forget that the Philippines are already through to the final stages of the AFF Suzuki Cup and are ranked the third best team in Southeast Asia, whilst Cambodia must play in the Suzuki Cup qualifiers next month. The game ended 0-0 in front of a sizeable crowd at Olympic Stadium tonight.
With a five-man midfield and Khim Borey playing in a withdrawn lone striker role, Cambodia began cautiously, inviting the opposition to break them down. Phil Younghusband shouldn't done exactly that on 13 minutes when Om Thavrak missed his clearing header and the former Chelsea-man fluffed his chance from fifteen yards out. Ten minutes later Jason Sabio headed powerfully against the crossbar from a corner but that was pretty much it as far as the Philippines had to offer in the first-half. With Cambodia relying on the counter-attack, Borey sent a slide-rule pass through to Sos Suhana on the half-hour but he was tackled as he was about to pull the trigger. Borey was booked for handball from the resulting corner. And that was it for obvious opportunities in the opening 45 minutes.
Three minutes on from the restart and Suhana repaid the compliment, sending Borey clear of the last defender but his hurried left-foot swinger went straight to keeper Neil Etheridge, a 1st-team squad regular with BPL team Fulham. On the hour, Etheridge boobed badly with a miss-kick but Suhana didn't react quickly enough and the goalkeeper recovered. Both teams made a series of substitutions but it was Cambodia's Sou Yaty who was the busiest goalkeeper, keeping out a couple of efforts and fisting away some high crosses. Pouring rain spoilt the spectacle for both players and fans for the final quarter and the last chance of note went to Philippines, when Patrick Reichelt evaded three defensive lunges but held his head as his low drive rebounded off the foot of the post to safety, with just two minutes to go.
I think Hok Sochetra will be pleased that his charges kept a clean sheet in his first game. If you don't concede, you don't lose. With Sou Yaty in good form and determined to punch any cross that came his way, the old guard of Thavrak and Tieng Tiny marshalled the center of defence and negated the threat posed by the Younghusband brothers. With five packing midfield, that left Borey with a tough solo job to do up front and he found it hard to hold onto the ball against a strong Philippines back-four. Sochetra will need to be more adventurous if he expects to progress through the qualifying games next month, but a goal-less draw with the fancied Philippines is a good start.
Cambodia line-up: Yaty, Pancharong, Vibol (S Pheng 94), Thavrak (Piseth 82), Tiny, Sothearath, Sopanha (S Udom 94), Suhana (Khemarin 94 ), Sokngorn (Saray 71), PM Udom (Vathanak 65), Borey (Chhoeun 84). Subs not used: Ratana, Vichet, Raksmey, Chum, Phearith, Veasna, Sothearoth. Bookings: Borey, Tiny.

The starting line-up for Cambodia. Back LtoR: PM Udom, Thavrak, Yaty, Sokngorn, Tiny, Sopanha (capt). Front: Vibol, Sothearath, Suhana, Pancharong, Borey. Click to enlarge.

Walkover win

The starting line-up for Cambodia's U-22s today. Back LtoR: Khemarin, Vibol, Sovan, Yaty, Soksana, Sokngorn (capt). Front: Chhoeun, Veasna, Suhana, Samnang, Pancharong. Click to enlarge.

The Cambodian U-22 squad made sure of a confidence-boosting virtual walkover win against their Philippines counterparts this afternoon, running out comprehensive 5-1 victors in a build-up friendly ahead of the upcoming Asian U-22 Cup. It was all Cambodia from the kick-off and it took just 43 seconds for PPCFC's Sos Suhana to stroke home the first goal. Chhin Chhoeun put over a cross which Keo Sokngorn failed to convert but Suhana was on hand to poke home a close range effort, much to the crowd's delight. It was the perfect way to settle any nerves for the Khmer team. A well-timed run by Suhana was picked out by Sokngorn on 13 minutes and the lively Crown star, playing just off the front man in this game, slotted the ball under the keeper for his second goal. Cambodia continued to dominate possession with the visitors finding it impossible to keep the ball but there were no more goals in the 1st half. Six minutes into the second half and Phoung Soksana poked the ball into the corner from Chhoeun's pass and was promptly replaced, with a big smile on his face, having put his side 3-nil ahead. Twice Suhana could've netted a hat-trick goal but twice he failed to provide the finish that his non-stop movement deserved. With both teams making a flurry of substitutions, Pov Phearith's shot rebounded off the foot of the post and skipper Keo Sokngorn was on hand to turn the ball in for number four twelve minutes from time. Nen Sothearoth blotted his copybook with a needless pull on Jose Porteria in a rare Philippines attack and the same player netted easily from the penalty spot with five minute to go. There was still time for Heng Sokly, put through by Phearith, to fire straight and true to give the Cambodian U-22's a walkover 5-1 success, in the final minute. It was a good performance from the off by Prak Sokmony's young team, they were too strong for the visitors, who look destined for a few high turnovers at the forthcoming U-22 championships. On the other hand it's difficult to assess the Cambodian chances in a very tough group in the same competition from this sole showing, but they couldn't have signed-off any better than they did today. Okay, it would've been nice to score a few more goals and there were still a few individuals who can sharpen up their game, in particular Soksana and Chhoeun, but overall the crowd went home happy, and so did the team.
Cambodia U-22s line-up: Yaty, Pancharong (Sothearoth 52), Vibol (O Ravy 68), Sovan (Vannak 78), Khemarin (S Ravy 89), Samnang (Daravorn 82), Veasna (Phearith 61), Chhoeun (Sokly 75), Sokngorn, Suhana, Soksana (Saray 52). Subs not used: Vichet, Sophea, Dina,

U-22 clash of fixtures

Sos Suhana - will likely play for Cambodia in the AFC U-22 Asian Cup

With Sok Sovan and Sos Suhana involved in Phnom Penh Crown's AFC President's Cup and Singapore Cup matches, they have been missing from the Cambodian U-22 national team training sessions and practice matches in recent weeks. It's inevitable that their club gets first dibs on them for these important matches of course, whilst they are simply preparing for the national squad. Looking forwards, the AFC U-22 Asian Cup tournament involving Cambodia will take place at the end of June and early July. That means that Cambodia will be playing U-22 games during the current Metfone C-League campaign and according to the fixture schedule, Suhana and Sovan, if selected for the U-22s, and they will be, are set to miss two PPCFC matches against Chhlam Samuth on 23 June and BBU on 30 June. Of course this applies to all the C-League teams with players in the squad and beggars the question, why weren't the season's fixtures amended to take into account this new competition, rather than force clubs to play without some of their very best players in crucial C-League matches. It's certainly a question I'd like to hear answered by the Cambodian football federation.

The AFC U-22 Asian Cup has been introduced for the first time this year and the AFC expect it to become the second biggest national team competition in the football calendar, eventually acting as the Olympics qualifier. 41 national teams are taking part at 7 venues with six groups of six teams and one group of five. The top two teams in each group progress, as well as the best of the third-placed teams. Laos will host the Group F that contains Cambodia at their National Stadium and at the Chao Anouvong Stadium. The Cambodia U-22 matches are as follows:

• Sat 23 June: Hong Kong v Cambodia
• Mon 25 June: Thailand v Cambodia
• Thu 28 June: Cambodia v China PR
• Sat 30 June: Cambodia v Korea DPR
• Tue 3 July: Laos v Cambodia

Sos Suhana

One of Cambodia's most exciting prospects is attacking midfielder Sos Suhana, who despite suffering relegation with Prek Pra Keila last season, established himself in the Cambodian national team at U-21 and u-23 levels under coach Lee Tae-Hoon. On his return from the SEA Games, he joined Phnom Penh Crown and looks set to continue his progress under David Booth. He made his mark against Crown when he scored a hat-trick in a pre-season friendly before last season began.

Name: Sos Suhana
Position: Midfield
Squad Number: 17
Date of birth: 4 April 1992
Place of birth: Prek Tapov, Prek Pra, Meanchey, Phnom Penh
Height: 1.70m
Weight: 57kg
Joined PPCFC: November 2011
Previous clubs: Prek Pra Keila, Cambodia U-21, U-23 & Seniors