BIDC Cup draw

The Cambodia U23 team in their last international friendly against Singapore

The BIDC Cup 2009, named and sponsored by The Bank for Investment and Development of Cambodia PLC - a Vietnamese Bank - is fast approaching. The winners of the 4 team tournament stand to take home a cash prize of $20,000 and the runners-up get half that. As a precursor to the SEA Games in Laos in early December, the Cambodian Under-23 team will complete against one of their main rivals at the SEA Games, the Laos Under-23s, alongwith two Vietnamese club sides, Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL), who finished 6th in the V-League last term, and Vissai Ninh Binh, who topped the First Division to get promotion to the V-league. HAGL are one of the stalwarts of the V-League, having won league and cup doubles in 2003 and 2004 and finished 3rd a couple of seasons ago. They will be the first opponents for the Cambodian U23s at 6pm on Sunday 8 November at the Olympic Stadium. HAGL are currently playing in a tournament in Phuket, will have a friendly in Bangkok then arrive in Phnom Penh for the BIDC but minus their new coach, Kiatisuk Senamuang, who is in charge of the Thailand U23s for the SEA Games.
The draw for the BIDC Cup is as follows, with all games at the Olympic Stadium:
Sun 8 Nov: V Ninh Binh v Laos U23 (3.30pm): HAGL v Cambodia U23 (6pm)
Tue 10 Nov: V Ninh Binh v HAGL (3.30pm): Cambodia U23 v Laos U23 (6pm)
Thu 12 Nov: Laos U23 v HAGL (3.30pm): CambodiaU23 v V Ninh Binh (6pm)
Sat 14 Nov: 3rd place play-off (3.30pm): Final (6pm)

Press talk

My article in yesterday's Phnom Penh Post on the Cambodian Under-23s ongoing preparation in Vietnam for the BIDC Cup in early November and the SEA Games in Laos in early December. Click here to see it online.
The Cambodian Under-23s played their 3rd practice match on Wednesday, drawing 0-0 with the Ho Chi Minh Under-21 team at The Thanh Long training centre. Coach Scott O'Donell commented on the game; "We dominated the first half creating a lot of chances but could not put them away. The 2nd half was more even but still we had some good chances. I was happy with most aspects of our game but our finishing was poor."
There are no injury worries to report from the squad's training camp just outside Saigon. The team are lining up two more practice matches to round off their month-long stint in Vietnam. The likely opponents are Can Tho, who finished 3rd in the V-League 1st Division last season and just lost out in the play-offs for promotion to the V-League proper. Their new coach is Lu Dinh Tuan, the coach at Ho Chi Minh City last season when they were relegated to the 1st Division. The Cambodian youngsters will return to Phnom Penh on 5 November and have two more training sessions before they compete for the BIDC Cup with an opening game against Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) on 8 November at the Olympic Stadium.
Below are the two new additions to the Cambodian U-23 training squad currently in Vietnam. Both players, Ieng Piseth and To Vann Thann, joined the squad last weekend and both play their football for the Ministry of National Defense team in the CPL.

To Vann Thann (Ministry of National Defense)

Ieng Piseth (Ministry of National Defense)

Progress report

Cambodia's national team coach Scott O'Donell is currently putting his Under-23 squad through its paces in Saigon, Vietnam

The Cambodian Under-23 football squad have now spent the past three weeks in Vietnam undergoing a rigorous training regime in preparation for the 25th SEA Games that will begin in Vientiane, Laos on 2 December. National team coach Scott O'Donell and his 25-man squad have two more weeks in their training camp at the Thanh Long training facility, half an hour outside of Ho Chi Minh City, before they return home on 5 November. Three days later they will compete in the four-team BIDC Cup that will take place at the Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh between 8-14 November, and which will act as an important dress rehearsal for the SEA Games that begin a month later. Coach O'Donell has been pleased with his squad's preparations so far. "We have been able to totally focus on our football without any outside distractions and we get to use the excellent training facilities here at Thanh Long. A typical day starts with training at 6.45am and we break for breakfast at 9.30am. We have lunch at 1pm, resume training at 3.45pm, finish for dinner at 6.30pm and are in bed by 10pm. We've been into town a couple of times just to get the players out of the training centre and give them time to relax. But the players know we are not here for a holiday, we are here to prepare for the SEA Games in December. We tested the players on arrival and it showed that our endurance fitness levels were not good enough, which was a little surprising considering the players had just completed the CPL season. We have also been working on technique and tactics and how I want the team to play. We re-tested the players' aerobic fitness levels again today and there has been a big improvement from all the players, after 21 days of hard work," said the Australian-born coach.
There have been a couple of personnel changes to the original 25-man squad that began the training camp in Vietnam. Two Ministry of Defense players, To Vann Thann and Ieng Piseth have arrived to replace Nhuon Chansothea and Chhim Sambo. The squad's main injury concern has been star striker Khim Borey, who missed most of the recent CPL campaign with an ankle injury. To claw back his fitness, he's been undertaking extra training sessions and concentrating on his speed and agility that saw him collect the Golden Boot top scorer award in 2008. O'Donell highlighted the importance of the practice matches the team has played so far, against Ho Chi Minh City and Dong Nai Bien Hoa, both of which they won. "These games are very important because it gives us the chance to try the things we have been working on in training in game situations against strong opposition. You can work all you like on the training field but it's not until the players are under pressure in game situations, that you find out if they understand what we have been working on." The plan is to play three more practice games, beginning with a match against two-timeV-League champions Dong Tam Long An on 28 October, before they return to Phnom Penh.
For O'Donell, the BIDC Cup, with a purse of US$20,000 for the winners, will act as another important stepping stone to the SEA Games. "I will be using the BIDC Cup as a dress rehearsal for the SEA Games. It will be a good opportunity for the players to show what they can do and to confirm their places for the Games. My expectations will be the same for any game that we play - the players go out and try to play good football and to give 100%," stated the coach from their training headquarters just outside of Vietnam's cosmopolitan southern city.

SEA Games twitter

Time for an update on the SEA Games that will take place in Laos from 9-18 December this year. It's the 25th SEA Games and there's been a building frenzy underway in Vientiane to accommodate all the sports that will be competed for by the 11 nations involved. Football is the main one as far as I'm concerned though Cambodia may have better chances to gain medals in such sports as petanque, where they won two gold medals in the last games in Khorat in 2007. The football competition will be competed for by the Under-23 teams from each country and Cambodia's U-23s have been busy preparing at their training camp in Saigon for the last few weeks. They return home to play in the 4-team BIDC Cup in Phnom Penh from 8-14 November when Laos U23 and two Vietnamese club sides, Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) and Vissai Ninh Binh will match up in a round-robin competition. The winners will receive $20,000 so its not to be sniffed at and the match practice will be just what the doctor ordered for Scott O'Donell's young team. As for the Laos U23 team, they've already won a 4-team pre-SEA Games tourney in Laos earlier this month, overcoming Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia no less and will be itching to win again before hosting the SEA Games. Whilst the BIDC Cup is underway, Hanoi in Vietnam will host another 4-team U23 competition involving the hosts, Thailand, Singapore and China. It looks like everyone and their dog is getting games under their belt before the qualifying games start in earnest in Vientiane on 2nd December, a little earlier than the main competition dates. In the last SEA Games in Khorat in December 2007, the Cambodia U23s lost all three games, 3-1 to Indonesia, 8-0 to Thailand and 6-2 to Myanmar and that's where national coach Scott O'Donell is looking to improve. To qualify would be a major achievement for the Cambodian team though an improvement on their last showing is their immediate aim. The qualifying round draw has yet to take place. Thailand have won the football competition for 8 consecutive SEA Games, beating Myanmar in the 2007 final, 2-0.

U23s win again

Yes I know I'm late with the football news, but I have an excuse...I'm in northeast Thailand.
The Cambodian U23s had their 2nd friendly game against a Vietnamese club side in a bid to add match sharpness to the daily training regime they are undertaking at their training camp in Saigon, Vietnam this month. With a win over Ho Chi Minh City already, they notched up a 2nd success, beating V-League Division 1 side Dong Nai 3-2 on Sunday. National coach Scott O'Donell gave the thumbs up to his players for coming from behind the win the game. "We were playing quite well and restricted them to very few chances, but conceded two very soft goals after 50 minutes. But credit to the players, they showed a lot of character to get back into the game and scored three goals - [via Nov Soseila, Kuoch Sokumpheak and Chhun Sothearath] - to win the game." The U23s will have a couple more practice games before they return home in time for the 4-team BIDC Cup that will take place in Phnom Penh in early November, though the real focus is on the SEA Games in Laos at the beginning of December.

U23 chat

The Cambodian Under-23s are now well into their training camp in Saigon, across the border in Vietnam, and played a practice match against Thu Duc Central Sports University yesterday, losing 1-nil. The players who weren't involved in the previous friendly against Ho Chi Minh City were given a run out, though the less said about the game the better. Their next match against a V-League club side will be on Sunday 18th against Dong Hai Bien Hoa. The U23s will return home in time for the 4-team BIDC Cup which will be played in Phnom Penh in early November though their real aim is to gain medals at the SEA Games football championships in Laos at the beginning of December. A tall order but that's the target.

U23s taste success

Yesterday, the Cambodian Under-23 team, currently enjoying the majority of this month at a training camp in Vietnam in readiness for the 4-team tournament in Phnom Penh in early November though essentially focusing on the SEA Games at the beginning of the following month, tasted success in the first friendly game arranged as part of their schedule of practice matches against Vietnamese club sides. A 1-0 success for the U23s, with a goal by full-back Pheak Rady on 35 minutes against recently-relegated Ho Chi Minh City was a pleasing result for national coach Scott O'Donell and his coaching team. "I was quite happy with the performance of the team, particularly in the first half. The only real chances HCMC had were a result of our sloppiness. The boys were disciplined and worked very hard. Still along way to go, but considering I have been working them hard in training, the performance today was encouraging. I made 8 changes throughout the second half, which obviously disrupted things a bit, but overall I was quite happy."

Bidding for the BIDC Cup

The Cambodian U23 team who'll compete for the BIDC Cup

News is filtering through of the 4-team football competition that will take place at the Olympic Stadium from 8-14 November and will provide the Cambodian Under-23 squad with invaluable match practice in their run up to the SEA Games that get underway in early December. The sponsors are offering a $20k prize for the winners and half that for the runners-up. The BIDC Cup will be sponsored by The Bank for Investment and Development of Cambodia PLC, a Vietnamese Bank. The 4 teams will be the Cambodian and Laos Under-23 teams, as well as two club sides from the Vietnam League, Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) from Pleiku who finished 6th in the V-League this term, and Vissai Ninh Binh, who won the equivalent of the First Division to get promotion to the V-league in the season just ended. HAGL are one of the stalwarts of the V-League, having won league and cup double in 2003 and 2004 and finished 3rd a couple of seasons ago. They also act as a nursery club for Arsenal. The bank which is sponsoring the round-robin tournament was previously known as Prosperity Investment Bank and was bought up a couple of months ago by the Vietnamese sister bank BIDV and renamed. The tournament will also co-incide with Cambodia's 56th anniversary of independence. Meanwhile, the forthcoming SEA Games are keeping everyone busy with a pre-SEA tournament being held in Laos this week involving teams from Laos, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam.

International press talk

Today's Phnom Penh Post carries my report on the international football friendly between Cambodia and Singapore, played on Sunday. It's online here.

Positively speaking

Wide right midfielder Prak Mony Udom was 17 less than 2 months ago

Let's take a look at some of the positives from the Cambodian Under-23 squad that faced Singapore on Sunday and who were on the wrong end of a 6-nil drubbing. It was their first game together after just six training sessions as a 25-man squad, which was selected by national coach Scott O'Donell after trials a couple of months ago. He's already indicated that this team will form the backbone of the full national team in the future, as he regards this squad as the cream of the homegrown talent in the Cambodian Premier League. The age limit is 23, as that same limit will apply in the SEA Games in December, and the squad has four baby-faced players aged just 17, namely Peng Bunchhay, Prak Mony Udom - he was 17 in August and is the squad's youngest player - Oum Kumpheak and Keo Sokngorn, the Cambodian U-19 captain. All four appeared for the U-19 team in recent internationals, alongwith Lorn Sotheara. Four of the squad are 18 years old - Lorn Sotheara, Nov Soseila, Sok Rithy and Nhuon Chansothea, and four are 19 years old - Samreth Seiha, Lay Raksmey, Chhim Sambo and Phuong Narong. The twenty year olds number three in total, Khim Borey, Sou Yaty and Pheak Rady, whilst 21 is the age of the captain for the Singapore game, Sun Sovannarith and Khuon Laboravy. Four players are aged 22 - Kuoch Sokumpheak, Chan Chhaya, Chhun Sothearath and Peng Pancharong. The older members of the squad, at 23, are Tieng Tiny, San Narith, Keo Kosal and the squad's oldest player, Chan Dara. The five squad players who didn't get to see action against Singapore were Peng Bunchhay, Peng Pancharong, Chhim Sambo and the two injured players, Khim Borey and San Narith.

Defender Chan Dara is the oldest player in the Cambodia U23 squad at 23

17 of the players were involved with their club sides in the Super 4 championships the day before, and only 2 players stayed on the field for 90 minutes aginst Singapore, Sun Sovannarith and Tieng Tiny. It's a very young squad with lots of room for the players to grow into international football with the right coaching and support, which has been sadly lacking until recently. The players will be disappointed with the Singapore result but put into perspective, they were up against a well-drilled team, many of whom play for the Young Lions nursery club side, and who've had a series of friendly games in their long lead-in preparation time to the SEA Games. This was Cambodia's first game and they have a way to go to match their opponents, but that's exactly why matches against good calibre teams will identify areas of required improvement well ahead of the tournament.

Left back Sun Sovannarith started the Singapore game as captain and played throughout the match

A last look at the U23s

The Cambodian U23 starting line-up for the Singapore friendly. LtoR (back row): Sovannarith, Tiny, Yaty, Narong, Rady, Rithy. (front row): Kumpheak, Sokngorn, Soseila, Sokumpheak, Sothearath.

Sun Sovannarith (blue) captains the national team against Singapore (red). The referee was Thong Chankethya.

The Cambodian bench with with substitutes and coaches before the game begins

A view from the main grandstand as the game unfolds

The respective national managers after the game, Scott O'Donell (left) and Raddy Avramovic

Goalkeeper Sou Yaty made his Cambodian international debut from the start

The Singapore squad celebrate their 6-0 success

The build-up

A downpour greeted the teams arrival on the pitch before the national anthems and presentation to the VIP guests

The friendly international at the Olympic Stadium yesterday was the first real test for the new Cambodian Under-23 squad and they now know the standard they must achieve to be able to challenge teams like Singapore and the better teams in the Asian region, especially with the SEA Games coming up in a couple of months. But they always knew it was a tough game to open with, and so it proved. Singapore were clinical in disposing of Cambodia, once their heads dropped after a bright opening 35 minutes. Lots of valuable lessons to be learnt from such games and lots of areas to work on in their training camp in Vietnam next month. Here are some photos from the build up to yesterday's match.

The rest of the Cambodian U23 starting line-up enter the playing arena

Sun Sovannarith leads out the Cambodian U23 team against Singapore

Some of the Cambodia substitutes take their place on the bench

Ngoun Chansothea leads out the Cambodian U23 substitutes

The Cambodian team warm up before their opening game

Singapore's experienced national team manager Raddy Avramovic, in charge since 2003

Encouraging drubbing

The Cambodia U23 starting line-up on Sunday

Let's kick off with the Cambodia U23 result against Singapore Sunday afternoon. 6-0 looks bad and yes the second half was poor but there were encouraging signs as well as extenuating circumstances. For much of the 1st half Cambodia more than held their own and looked the team most likely until Singapore scored on 35 minutes and never looked back. Give international teams too much space and they will punish you. The Cambodian youngsters will learn this the hard way and once Singapore got their noses in front they made sure they coasted to victory. Two goals down at half-time was unfair, with skipper for the day Sun Sovannarith just failing to stop Khairul Nizam from tapping in the opener and then a lack of concentration at a quickly-taken free-kick allowed Gabriel Quak acres of space to score. After the break, the flow of the game was ruined with 16 substitutions but it didn't deter Singapore with Fadhil Noh getting a hat-trick in sixteen minutes and Fairoz Hasan netting a late sixth. It was a disappointing result for all concerned, especially the big crowd who'd hoped for a better showing by the home side.
It was Scott O'Donell's first game in charge of his second spell as national coach. He was understandably unhappy but also realistic. "We didn't deserve the half-time scoreline, but we certainly deserved to lose by six in the 2nd half. We knew it wasn't going to be easy, but we stopped doing in the second half what we did so well in the first. Its very early days, but we've got to show more character and I've told the players that the game is 90 minutes long not 35. I take responsibility for the result, I pick the team. Though we lost badly, its beneficial to play teams like Singapore as it shows how far we have to go. I hate losing and so do the players. They're all disappointed back there in the dressing room. But we'll get better," he said immediately after the game. Over half of the Cambodian squad played in Saturday's Super 4 play-off finals and with few training sessions together the result shouldn't come as too much of a surprise. Meanwhile, Singapore's squad contained a dozen players from Young Lions, the club side in the S-League who act as a nursery team for the national squad.
O'Donell sprung a mini-surpise by putting Sou Yaty in goal from the start though the rest of his line-up was pretty predictable. Nov Soseila caused Singapore a few problems on the right and Sok Rithy and Tieng Tiny looked comfortable on the ball for much of the 1st half. Kuoch Sokumpheak had a couple of half chances but Cambodia did look toothless in front of goal and that area will need working on. The 25-man squad now travel to Vietnam for nearly a month to hone their team work and play some games against V-League opposition.
The Cambodian U23 team against Singapore (with subs in brackets):
Yaty (Seiha), Rady (Raksmey), Sovannarith, Tiny, Rithy (Dara), Narong (Kosal), Sothearath (Sotheara), Kumpheak (Laboravy), Soseila (Mony Udom), Sokngorn (Chansothea), Sokumpheak (Chhaya).

Just through the door

I'm just back through the door after spending most of the day at the Olympic Stadium. First there was the friendly international between Cambodia Under-23 and their counterparts from Singapore. Eagerly anticipated, it all unraveled in spectacular fashion as Singapore netted six times without reply and you could literally see the steam coming out of coach Scott O'Donell's ears, he was that hopping mad. More on the game later. I then stayed at the stadium to watch a card of three kick-boxing bouts and one regular boxing match in the indoor volleyball area. It attracted a good crowd, as did the afternoon's football and we even had an appearance by Meas Soksophea, my favourite Khmer singer, who sang a couple of songs. Again more later.

Captured on the news

The guy sat down and looking interested, is me at this morning's press conference, caught on camera on CTN

I just managed to catch the sports news on CTN tonight around 7pm and hey presto, their coverage of this morning's Cambodia Under-23 press conference at the Olympic Stadium came on before I was ready, so I only have a couple of screen-shots from their programme. Unlike the numerous army or political conferences we see on a daily basis, where the camera lingers for minutes on end on dead-pan faces in the audience, the CTN footage was short and whizzed by quickly, hence just a couple of pictures to show you...but i think you get the picture. I didn't have the time, nor the inclination, to wait for the sports programmes on the other channels that were present this morning.

A wider angle view of other members of the Khmer press

The camera lingered on the Cambodian players and coaching staff for most of the segment

Press talk

This is my article on Sunday's match between Cambodia Under-23s versus Singapore Under-23s at the Olympic Stadium that appeared in yesterday's Phnom Penh Post. You can read the article online here.

Bit of a shambles

23 of the 25-man Cambodia Under-23 squad line up with the coaching staff after this morning's press conference

The national team's coaching staff. LtoR: Bouy Dary, Van Piseth, Scott O'Donell (coach) and Prak Sovanny

At 9am this morning, a press conference at the Olympic Stadium gave the television and newspaper press corps the opportunity to find out more about the Cambodian Under-23 national team that will travel to Laos to challenge for the SEA Games football medals. It was pretty disorganized to be honest, the conference room was too small for the number of attendees (at least 20 news outlets were invited; they forgot to invite me), there was no translation into English so it was aimed strictly at the local press, the cameramen muscled in and stuck their cameras everywhere, the media boys didn't stop talking amongst themselves, mobile phones continually went off, just about everything that would never happen at a 'serious' press conference was allowed to happen at this one. I know it's only a press conference but being professional about these things doesn't take a genius to arrange. Anyway the cameras from Apsara, CTN, Bayon, etc were stuck in my face a few times when I asked questions so I should be on the news programmes tonight, especially as I was the only barang besides Scott O'Donell, the national team coach. Scott, the team manager Vann Ly and general secretary Ouk Sethycheat were the ones answering questions, though Vann is recently appointed and even though I attend nearly every one of the CPL games, I'd never clapped eyes on the federation's general secretary before. Scott repeated a fair bit of what he told me during our interview a couple of days ago, especially as I asked the same questions, just to give the press boys a bit more information. Their own questions were very limited and repetitive. The coach also promised, "I'll guarantee that each player will give 100% and do their country proud," when asked about their commitment. The general secretary responded to my question about incentives, saying that the government will pay each player 24 million riel ($6,000) if they win the gold medal, 16 million riel for silver and 8 million riel for bronze, in addition to their salary and daily expenses. The team will spend most of October and the latter half of November in training camp in Vietnam, where they will play five matches in the first spell and another two games in the second stint against club sides from the Vietnam League. They have a mini-tournament in Phnom Penh early in November and when they reach the SEA Games, they are guaranteed at least 3 games in the group stages. All in all, a very busy couple of months following their opening match against Singapore this Sunday. After an hour, the proceedings came to a close and the squad went onto the pitch for a team photograph before dispersing. At no stage during the press conference did anyone ask the players a question.

Van Piseth, left, assistant coach, translates a question to Scott O'Donell, the national coach

The top table at the press conference. LtoR: Van Piseth, Scott O'Donell, Ouk Sethycheat (gen sec), Vann Ly (team manager).

The players were squeezed into a corner of the small room for the hour-long press conference

Under-23 gallery 5

Forward Kuoch Sokumpheak from Khemara Keila

The final set of face photos from this morning's training session for the Cambodian Under-23s ahead of their important game against Singapore this coming Sunday.

Forward Khim Borey from Ministry of National Defense

Forward Keo Sokngorn from Phnom Penh Crown

Forward Chan Chhaya from Phnom Penh Crown

Midfielder Prak Mony Udom from Preah Khan Reach

Under-23 gallery 4

Midfielder Keo Kosal from Preah Khan Reach

More face photos from the Cambodian Under-23 squad that will have their first stern test against Singapore U-23s on Sunday afternoon at the Olympic Stadium (3.30pm kick-off). I've just heard that the CPL play-off games on Saturday will now kick-off at 1pm and 3pm, the latter time being the final between Naga Corp and Khemara Keila.

Midfielder Chhim Sambo from Naga Corp

Midfielder Lorn Sotheara from Ministry of National Defense

Midfielder Nhuon Chansothea from Preah Khan Reach

Midfielder Phuong Narong from Phnom Penh Crown