Cambodia’s striker Narong Kakada tried to control the ball under pressures from Bruneian players during 2022 AFF U23 Championship in February. YOUSOS APDOULRASHIM
Both the Cambodia Men’s and Women’s national U23 football teams have found themselves in difficult groups for the 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) football tournament. The organising committee of hosts Vietnam held the draw yesterday morning for both the football and futsal, although the Kingdom has elected not to send its futsal teams.
During the drawer – which was held in Hanoi – the ten team’s names were added to 5 bowls. The first contained the top seeded teams, hot favourites Vietnam and Thailand. The second contained Indonesia and Malaysia. Cambodia and Myanmar were bowl 3, with the Philippines and Singapore below them. The final bowl contained Laos and Timor-Leste. The system was designed to ensure that the top seeds would not meet in the early parts of the tournament.
Hosts Vietnam were automatically put into Group A with Thailand taking the top slot in Group B, with the drawer adding Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Timor-Leste to Vietnam’s Group A, while Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore and Laos join Thailand in Group B.
The results from the draw mean that both the men’s and women’s national teams will have to work hard, as they are matched up with some strong teams.
The AFF U23 Championship hosted by Cambodia in February, gives us some clues as to what to expect in Hanoi. Cambodia were knocked out in the group stage after defeating Brunei 6-0 and the Philippines 1-0, but losing 1-0 to Timor-Leste. Vietnam became the champions after beating Thailand 1-0 in the final – in a replay of a pool match that ended the same way.
Lao and Timor-Leste finished third equal.
According to unofficial sources, both squads are planning to conduct a training camp in Vietnam.
However, men’s team assistant coach Phea Sopheaktra told the Post: “We are not sure of our plans for the training camp yet – the SEA Games committee suggested we arrive just a few days before the tournament. The timetable we originally prepared had us assembling the team immediately after the Cambodian Premier League breaks on April 24th and heading to Hanoi around the 28th.”
The women’s squad has not gathered yet but based on the recently concluded 2021 Women’s Football Championship, player’s from Phnom Penh Crown – who won the title – and NagaWorld Kampong Speu, the runner-ups, are likely to make up the bulk of the selections.
Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar and Indonesia are all sending men’s and women’s futsal teams to the games, but Cambodia has elected not to, as its team remains at a low level.
During the ongoing 2022 AFF Futsal Championship in Thailand, the Cambodian national team dropped out of the competition without finding a win, as they lost to Malaysia 7-6, 15-time champions Thailand 16-0, found a 2-2 drawer against Brunei and then suffered a final defeat in their last pool match, going down 11-2 to Indonesia.
