Young Cambodia hopes to learn from Challenge Cup qualifiers campaign

7-0 loss to Turkmenistan. 8-0 defeat to the Philippines.



The Cambodia national men’s football team failed to put up a good fight in the 2014 Asian Football Confederation Challenge Cup qualifiers, yielding two huge losses to end its hopes of qualifying to the next round.

But Cambodia coach Prak Sovannara isn’t bothered by those blowouts.


“15 goals. It’s okay for us,” Sovannara said.


Cambodia almost did not join the tournament after backing out months before the qualifiers. But Sovannara realized that his young team, composed mostly of the country’s Under-23 squad players, could gain its much-needed experience in the competition as it prepares for the Southeast Asian Games later this year.


“We already withdrew but we tried to attend again,” Sovannara said.

Sovannara added that he was glad to play against the teams in the competition, especially versus the “European” Azkals side.

“The most important thing is we played against a European team,” Sovannara said. “I hope that the Philippines can go to the finals.”


Despite a forgettable tournament, Sovannara hopes that the experience could help them become a better team in the future.

“I think from this year, we will have very good players,” Sovannara said.

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