Who we face

Lots more to come on last night's BIDC Cup but let's take a break for a minute to digest the draw for the football competition in the SEA Games in Vientiane, Laos in a couple of weeks time. Cambodia are in Group A, the strongest of the groups and will open their competition involvement against the 8-times gold medalists Thailand on 4 December at 3pm at the Chao-Anu-Vong Stadium in central Vientiane. Nothing like starting with the toughest game first, though the Cambodian team will be bouyed by their BIDC Cup success this week and another two weeks of intensive warm-up in Vietnam before the kick-off. Their games come thick and fast and two days later, 6 December, they meet Timor Leste at 5.45pm at the brand new National Stadium, some 20kms outside of the city. On 8 December they are back at the Chao-Anu-Vong venue to meet Malaysia (5.45pm) and then complete their group matches with another tough task against Vietnam on 11 December at 3pm at the Chao Stadium. Scott O'Donell and his U23 squad are off to Vietnam again tomorrow for another ten days of intensive preparation at the Thanh Long facility just outside Saigon before they return to Phnom Penh in time to say goodbye to their loved ones and head for Laos.

The Chao-Anu-Vong Stadium in central Vientiane, Laos