SEA GAMES EXPERIENCE A PAINFUL LESSON FOR CAMBODIA

VIENTIANE (14 Dec 2009) – It was a painful outing for Cambodia at the SEA Games here in Laos where they capped their sojourn with a 6-1 defeat at the hands of Vietnam which confirmed their failure of making the final four of the biennial championships.

Head coach Scott O’Donell admitted that his young chargers were outclassed in every division in their loss to Vietnam although he was quick to point out that lessons must be learned.

“We were totally outplayed,” stated O’Donell.

“There was a complete difference in class between us and Vietnam. They controlled the game; they did what they wanted to, when they wanted to. Our individual defending was poor, our clearances were poor, we didn’t track their runners, we allowed them too much time and space, and they punished us.

“It’s something we’ve got to learn from. If you don’t defend properly, and you are not well-organised, maintain your shape and balance, and you don’t reduce the time and space they have to play, they’ll do what they want, and that’s exactly what happened.”

Cambodia began their campaign at the SEA Games with a 4-0 loss to Thailand before bouncing back to win 4-1 over Timor Leste which gave them the confidence to take on troubled Malaysia in their next match.

But after failing to convert a penalty in the second half, Cambodia fell to a 4-0 loss to the Malaysians before slumping to a 6-1 defeat to Vietnam.