Cambodia pulled off a sensational 1-0 win over Afghanistan in the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 third round qualifiers group clash yesterday evening, triggering wild celebrations at the iconic Olympic Stadium filled to its capacity of nearly 60,000.

National head coach Leonardo Vitorino, who had been under some pressure for a breakout win, greeted the outcome with as much delight as relief, joining the team members in a victory lap waving the Cambodian national flag.

That unbridled show of emotion by the players and the coach reflected the huge significance of the victory that came in the wake of Cambodia going through the World Cup qualifiers with just one goal to show in eight defeats and a heavy 0-7 loss to Jordan at the start of the Asian Cup campaign two months ago.

In a thrilling way, it was also sweet revenge of sorts for Cambodia, who had gone down to Afghanistan by a late goal when the two sides had met at the same venue two years ago.

After a stout-hearted performance during an evenly fought first half, Cambodia’s fortunes took a wild swing when Svay Rieng striker Prak Mony Odom produced an acrobatic effort moments before the hour mark to leave Afghanistan in a state of daze.

That snap goal – which was as brilliant in its execution as it was bizarre in its creation – almost instantly turned the game on its head as Cambodia piled on more pressure and very nearly doubled their lead. Chan Vathanaka’s brilliant approach and deft cross proved a bit too speedy for the onrushing Khun Laboravy who had an open goal greeting him.

A visibly shaken Afghanistan tried desperately to bridge the divide, but Sou Yaty between the Cambodian sticks was a man possessed on the night.

Despite taking an accidental kick in the first half from an Afghan player in the act of gathering the ball, Sou Yaty produced several outstanding saves to ensure a clean sheet.

Ironically, he was the only Cambodian player to pick up a yellow card after he got into a heated argument with an Afghan player following an incident involving Khun Laboravy who hit the ground after being challenged in the air by Afghan midfielder Amri. Eventually Amri also received a yellow even as tempers cooled down.

On the trip back, coach Otto Pfister might look back with some regret over several prominent chances that Afghanistan missed out on either due to their own inept finishing or Sou Yaty’s timely interventions.

With Cambodia earning the full set of points they move up to second in the group behind Jordan.

Tep Timothy won the Boys Under-18 singles title in the second Phnom Penh Provincial Junior Tournament after beating his Junior Davis Cup teammate Chheang Vannasith 6-2, 6-0 in a three-player round robin competition at the National Tennis Center on Sunday.

Timothy and Vannasith set up a final showdown after beating third contender Leap Sovannary, but the clash between the two leading juniors turned out to be a one-way street for Timothy.

As expected, the fast rising Leng Sarinreach easily had the measure of the inexperienced Tep Nolane 6-1, 6-2.

However, Sarinreach, a semi-finalist at the Singha Grand Slam Experience Under-14 event in Bangkok recently, took the honours without hitting a ball as his next opponent Khleang Ponlok could not take the court because of a family emergency.

The Boys Under-14 title was claimed by Tep Lancelot after he beat Chhieu Chaya 5-4, 4-1, and the girls version went to Chhieu Apsara, who beat Suong Phally 4-0, 4-1 in the final.

Chhron Sreyvin came through a tough encounter against Kam Sreynoch 4-2, 5-4 in the Girls Under-12 final.

In the second edition of the Kandal Provincial Junior event, Ith Bunthea emerged on top with a flawless 6-0, 6-0 win over Srouem Tola in the Boys Under-18 final.

While Sam Davith won the Boys Under-14 singles, beating Nel Samnang 4-0, 5-3, Hour Sokheang got on top in the Boys Under-12 section, beating Lim Vuth 4-1, 4-0.

Hour Sreypov managed to turn around two recent defeats by Ho Sreynoch in the Girls 18 and Under showdown. The older and more experienced Sreypov adopted a more aggressive approach than normal to get past Sreynoch 7-5, 6-1.

The first national junior tournament of the year will take place at the NTC from June 23 to 25, featuring players from Phnom Penh, Kandal, Battambang, and Siem Reap. Only the top four players from each age category will be invited to the Nationals.

Cambodia head coach Leonardo Vitorino has made it clear that he is not in the business of counting wins and losses or focusing on short-term gains but that he has taken up the challenging role to meet strategic goals to build a secure future for Cambodian football.

The Brazilian’s defiant assertion in the wake of a winless three months in charge came at a joint press conference held by him and his Afghanistan counterpart Otto Pfister at the Hotel Phnom Penh yesterday ahead of the Group E clash between the two countries in the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 final round qualifiers at Olympic Stadium this evening.

The much anticipated contest, which is expected to draw another massive crowd, kicks off at 6:30pm.

Vitorino and Pfister are both relatively new in their latest jobs, having assumed control of their teams barely months ago, but they face very different sets of circumstances in building the strength of their teams.

While pressure has been gradually mounting on Vitorino to produce a positive outcome after three defeats to Jordan, India and Indonesia in the past three months, the challenge for Pfister is to manage a team where players are scattered in different parts of the world following political turmoil in Afghanistan that has forced the country to seek neutral venues for their home matches.

“We talk about advantages and strengths, but football is a game that is 50-50,” was the German’s modest answer to a question about Afghanistan’s chances.

Vitorino contended that his team has shown improvement, but that the pace of change would be slow. “I want to win, the players want to win, the crowd wants us to win. But we have to realise the fact that Cambodia has lost those games to teams that are ranked higher and so far has only managed to beat teams that are ranked below them,” he said.

“I have in mind a team for tomorrow that will create a buzz. Many people may not agree with it, but it fits into my own and the federation’s long-term vision. This is precisely what we are planning for – to build a team that can bring laurels to the country when it hosts the 2023 SEA Games.”

‘Push for a brighter future’
The Brazilian rejected outright the claim he had criticised some players for not following his instructions in the 2-0 friendly loss to Indonesia last week. “I never said they did not follow my instructions. In fact, they did, and they always do. I just want them to learn from their mistakes,” he said.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Football Federation of Cambodia denied any hint of putting pressure on the new coach. “We have absolutely no [concerns]. Yes, we expect good results. But, at the same time, we know our strengths and weaknesses. We are positively pushing for a brighter future,” he said.

Afghanistan have made several changes from the team that beat Cambodia twice during last year’s World Cup qualifying second round. As many as eight Afghan players have been training in Germany and other parts of Europe, a fact that was not lost on the Cambodia coach, who saw that as a major plus for the opposition.

“We have Chan Vathanaka in J-League 3, and our league standard is not that high, whereas the Afghan players play in stronger leagues and they have a bunch of good players and are physically superior compared to our players. We have a tough match on our hands,” Vitorino said.

Afghanistan snatched a thrilling 1-0 victory over Cambodia when the two sides met two years ago at the same venue. Hardworking midfielder Mustafa Zazai struck the only goal of a match full of thrust and parry in the 85th minute to the delight of German Bosnian coach Slaven Skeledzic, who later made way for two more coaches before Pfister took over in March of this year.

Though a lot of water has passed under the bridge since then, Cambodia can still look back with some pride to that fighting performance in the hope of reining in the Afghans.

The match will be broadcast live on local channel BTV.

Three defeats in three months since he took over as national head coach has left Leonard Vitorino wondering how best to get positive results ahead of the AFC Cup group game against Afghanistan at the Olympic Stadium on Tuesday evening after Cambodia went down without a whimper to Indonesia 2-0 in an international football friendly at a packed Olympic Stadium on Thursday evening.

The Brazilian was understandably disappointed at the outcome and perhaps even dismayed by an error-prone performance from his players, but he struck a defiant tone that they will not stay down.

Another sellout crowd in the upwards of 50,000 watched a strong regional team build their own self-assurance after returning to competitive scene from a two-year FIFA ban as they efficiently punished the home side for loose marking, defensive slips and some poor finishing.

The Indonesians are on course to solidify their team ahead of this August’s SEA Games in Malaysia as the ban had prevented them from all other regional goals, and the camp was reasonably happy that the team was gradually kicking off ring rust after being in the shadows for so long.

The opportunity to engage a team as strong as Indonesia was seen by Vitorino as a means of giving his players a stern test ahead of the AFC Cup group game against Afghanistan.

But what the Brazilian saw from the touchline will have convinced him that his players will have to work a lot harder than they did on the pitch against Indonesia if they are to match strides with the physical Afghans.

The first sign of a crack in the Cambodian defence allowed Indonesia’s Dutch-born forward Irfan Bachdim to work his way from the left to a vantage point in front of goal and polish off a right-footed strike.

Within four minutes of that goal past the half-hour mark, Vitorino brought in defender Thierry Chantha Bin to replace Hoy Phalin as Cambodia began to exert pressure on their rivals. The tried and tested Khoun Laboravy went close but the Boeung Ket hat-tricker against Warriors FC in Singapore last week could not get his final strike quite right.

Noun Borey stepped in for Laboravy past the hour and a little later Keo Sokpheng replaced Prak Mony Odom, with Keo Sokgnon also being called upon to take the field in place of Polroth.

While Cambodia struggled to turn promise into a goal, Indonesia managed to chalk up their second deep in injury time when 18-year-old Gian Zola Nugraha smashed in a nearly 30-yard drive with his right foot after substitue Hanif Abdurrauf had put him through.

Cambodia national team head coach Leonardo Vitorino has urged his side to finally end their run of 23 years without a victory when they tackle Indonesia today in an international friendly at Olympic Stadium at 6:30pm.

Since 1995, the Cambodian football national team have failed to beat Indonesia in all their meetings, losing 13 out of the 14 matches between the two sides. Cambodia lost 1-0 in their last meeting in 2014.

The Brazilian coach, who was appointed earlier this year after previous boss Lee Tae Hoon stepped down, wants his players to turn this unwanted record to their advantage against Indonesia this evening.

At a press conference held at Olympic Stadium yesterday, Vitorino told reporters: “Over 23 years, Cambodia have never beaten Indonesia and I highlighted this fact to all the players, particularly the two youngest, who are just 17 years old, because I want to push and encourage the players to do their best and end this record.

“We have to aim for a positive result from this match.”

“As Cambodia head coach, I am focused on achieving a good result from this game. The Cambodian Football Federation have supported us greatly, which has made it easy for us to be well prepared and I cannot see any negatives in the team.

“Our focus is on the match with Afghanistan in the AFC Asian Cup qualifier [on June 13] but we also have to focus on [today’s] match and we have to try our best.”

Ahead of today’s match, which will be broadcast live on BTV News, Cambodia’s star striker Chan Vathanaka said: “Just from our training sessions together over the past few days, I can see our team understands each other and we are improving as a side.”

Translated by IN SOPHENG

In a major boost to its northwestern frontier grassroots expansion, Tennis Cambodia has secured a $50,000 Infrastructure Facility Grant from the International Tennis Federation to build world class courts in Siem Reap, seven years after similar funding saw the creation of an international standard tennis centre in Phnom Penh.

Under the Federation’s strategic plan, two to four courts will be built at the existing but disused Siem Reap Stadium at a location that had been earmarked for tennis when the multidiscipline complex began to take shape in 2004.

A private developer is said to have abandoned the project midway, leading to the takeover of the complex, spread over nearly 10 hectares of land, in 2005 by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport.

But for sporadic activity in indoor basketball and volleyball and the use of the main playing arena for the odd school sports events, the complex has remained largely underutilised.

However, Metfone C-League football team Cambodian Tiger have made it their home this year. The Tigers are training there and have played three of their home games at the ground, raising hopes of the once well thought out complex springing back to life again.

“The creation of Siem Reap Tennis Centre will go a long way in inspiring other sports federations to move in and fulfil the grand purpose for which this complex was designed,” Tennis Cambodia’s northwestern region head coach Scott Windus told The Post in Siem Reap last week.

“We will build these courts exactly on the site that had been marked for tennis in the original plan.

“But before we start work on the two to four courts that we have in mind, we need to seek guarantees from the government that Tennis Cambodia will have complete access to and control of the centre.

“This is one of the main preconditions for the release of the grant from the International Tennis Federation,” said Windus, who has been heading Tennis Cambodia’s northwest operations for the past three years.

The Federation has opened a channel of communication with the Siem Reap Provincial Office of the Ministry of Education, seeking approval for a long-term caretaker lease agreement between the ministry and Tennis Cambodia.

‘A game-changer’
A Ministry of Education official in Siem Reap, Chun Savandy, confirmed to The Post that his office is in the process of forwarding Tennis Cambodia’s application for favourable consideration by the higher powers in Phnom Penh.

While requesting a 50-year caretaker lease arrangement with the government, Tennis Cambodia has assured authorities that it aims to work with the Siem Reap Ministry of Education office to encourage a large and regular inter-school sports competition that can utilise the complex along with other national associations.

“Our coaching team in Siem Reap, under the supervision of Scott Windus, has worked tirelessly to not only keep tennis alive but is now spreading it positively. This is another step towards growing the game nationwide,” said Tennis Cambodia Secretary-General Tep Rithivit.

“The creation of this world-class centre will not only add a new dimension to our programs in Siem Reap, where thousands of boys and girls are going through grassroots development, but it will also create another stop for our international events, like ITF Juniors and Futures,” he said.

“It is a game-changer for Tennis Cambodia and a big leap for the community.”

The Federation is expecting the necessary paperwork on the caretaker lease to be completed in the next few weeks.

Once they get the green light from the Ministry of Education, Tennis Cambodia will lose no time in starting construction on the courts.

If all goes according to plan, the tennis centre in Siem Reap should be operational by the end of this year, considerably boosting the Kingdom’s infrastructure capability ahead of the 2023 SEA Games that the country will be hosting for the first time.

But between the ITF grant and Tennis Cambodia’s grand scheme stands the government’s willingness to provide the long term lease, leaving the ball firmly in the Ministry of Education’s court.

More than two months of training in Thailand paid handsome dividends for Lon Sopheaktra as he emerged as the fourth Cambodian rider to qualify for the men’s endurance event at the SEA Games in Malaysia later this year.

Competing at the President’s Cup at the Thai Polo Equestrian Club in the beach town of Pattaya on Saturday, Sopheaktra finished fifth among 16 riders astride the aptly named grey Significance in his second 80km event, thereby securing the novice endurance qualification mark for the August’s biennial games where the Kingdom will be hoping to win its first equestrian medal.

Sopheaktra completed the National line-up of four riders, with Ly Sovanachandara, Moeung Sochea and Phay Visal meeting the competition standards in the recently concluded pre-SEA games event in Kuala Lumpur.

With the team of four riders and their mounts now having a settled look, the Cambodian Equestrian Federation is well poised to initiate a regular and intensive training program me for the national riders while pursuing its efforts to get two more riders and their horses up to the grade before next month’s deadline.

“We are hopeful of adding two more names to the list sometime this month, meeting our target of sending a six-man endurance team for the SEA Games for the first time ever,” the president of the CEF, Mona Tep, told The Post yesterday.

“This training camp that we are organising would not have been possible without the generous support of Harald Link, the president of the South East Asian Equestrian Federation and his company BGrimm, which supported the Cambodia team to participate in previous editions. They will be with us in endurance [at the SEA Games] for the first time this year in Malaysia,” she said.

“Endurance is a unique discipline. It requires more than just a rider and his mount. A technical and support team is vital to both the qualification and the safety element.”

‘Vet gate’
Stressing the importance of vets accompanying the riders and their horses wherever and whenever they compete, Tep said the support team was equally crucial in taking care of the horses during breaks and cooling them off to get them ready for the next ride.

Endurance, unlike other equestrian events, is based on controlled distance racing. Before the race, the horses are inspected by an approved veterinarian to determine their health and fitness. Riders get a map that will define the course and the ride is divided into various sections.

After each section, every competing horse will be put through what is called the “vet gate”, a check on their physical durability and dehydration based on their pulse and respiration.

For a horse to continue from one section to the next, it is mandatory for it to record a heartrate below the specified level for the event.

The riders’ time keeps running until their horses reach the required target, so it is important that the horses recover as quickly as possible. Horses found lame are automatically eliminated from the competition.

As for the riders, they are free to choose their own pace during the competition, adjusting to the terrain and their mount’s condition. Therefore, they must have a great knowledge of pace, knowing when to slow down or speed up during the ride, as well as a great knowledge of their horse’s condition and signs of distress.