PHNOM PENH (26 March 2017) – Cambodia put up a fine performance at home but fell a little short when they succumbed to an unfortunate 3-2 loss to India in a friendly over the weekend.
In front of a sellout crowd at the National Olympic Stadium, Cambodia were superb in the first half but found themselves falling behind in the 34th minute when goalkeeper Oum Sereyrath failed to make a clean save from a corner for Indian striker Sunil Chethri to score.
But Cambodia fought back soon after for Khuon Laboravy to work in tandem with Prak Mony Odoum for the equalizer.
In a four minute blitz into the second half, India went 3-1 in front off Jeje Lalpekhlua and Sandesh Jhingan before Chan Vathanaka pulled the second goal for Cambodia some time later for the final 3-2 scoreline.
“Firstly, I want to apologise to all Cambodian people and fans for the result. I know everyone wanted to win as much as I did but this is football,” said Leonardo Vitorino, Cambodia’s newly appointed coach.
“Although we lost our way a bit in the second half, we had a lot of possession and created many chances, especially in the first half, but we missed them.
“This is my first match as Cambodia coach, and a friendly, and I can promise that our team will develop and do better in the future.”
