After their flash-in-the-pan 12-goal thrashing of a totally ill-equipped Timor-Leste side at the start of the AFF Women’s Championship in the Indonesian city of Palembang, Cambodia were eliminated from their five-team Group A following a whipping by Australia by the same scoreline on Saturday.
Having lost to Malaysia 4-0 and Thailand 11-0, Cambodia were helpless bystanders as Mary Fowler, the Group’s top scorer with seven goals, got five of those within the first half an hour.
It was a procession of sorts the rest of the way as Barbieri bagged a hat-trick and four others got a goal each.
Australia and Thailand are already guaranteed of a knockout place and battle for group honours on Monday.
Vietnam and Myanmar advanced to the next phase from Group B.
Captain Hout Koemhong, who smashed in six against Timor-Leste in the opener, was a valuable find according to Cambodia coach Meas Sam Oeurn, who insisted in his interviews with the media that the team would be better off from this experience in what he called a very tough group.
Under-19s knocked out
“It was very good start [against Timor-Leste], a good score. But we could not keep up with the stronger teams later,” Sam Oeurn said.
He earlier spoke of how important the debut was for Cambodia as it broke traditional thinking that football is a man’s game and that not many girls like the sport enough to take it seriously.
Meanwhile, Cambodia were sent packing from the AFF U19 football Championship after a 4-1 defeat to Myanmar in the Indonesian city of Gersik on Friday.
Eliminated from Group B, Cambodia face Timor-Leste on Tuesday in a game that has no bearing on the qualification process.
Hosts Indonesia have already booked their knockout tickets, with Thailand well placed to join them from Group A.
With a slender first-half lead, Myanmar stepped up the tempo in the second session, scoring three more to put the game beyond Cambodia.
Braces from Win Naing Tun and Myat Kaung Khant boosted Myanmar, while midfielder Nop David got the Kingdom’s consolation goal.
Malaysia and Myanmar seem destined to also advance from this group.
