Cambodia deep into preparations for HBT outing

THE Cambodian national football team are not taking their upcoming campaign for the Hassanal Bolkiah Trophy lightly.

Training under South Korean Lee Tae Hoon, the side look focused and composed as they continue their preparations for Brunei's Feb 25-March 9 biennial tournament.

Their current preparations have included two friendly matches against Korean side Ulsan University, at their National Olympic Stadium, on January 27th and 29th respectively.

They have also played a friendly against Southeast Asian (SEA) Games gold-medallist Malaysia, in which the Cambodian's lost 1-0 on January 14.

According to a statement released by Cambodian newspaper, The Phnom Penh Post, the warm-up game against Malaysia was the fifth in a series that began at the turn of the new year.

The Brunei-bound hopefuls came up with a 5-1 victory over Cambodian League club, Boeung Ket Rubber Field, but lost 1-0 to Build Bright United.

Against two of the more established top-flight Cambodian league teams, the U21 side gained two draws against Preah Khan Reach, and Naga Corp.

The Cambodians have been training hard since Christmas holidays for this year's Hassanal Bolkiah Trophy tournament where the winners will be awarded $20,000, with the runners-up getting $10,000 and the third-placed side winning $5,000.

A total of $1.7 Million have been spent by the organisers of the tournament this year, making it the biggest sum ever spent for the tournament.

Cambodia finished bottom of the group in the inaugural edition in 2002 but advanced in their next appearance in 2007, thanks to a 6-0 trouncing of the Philippines.

They were defeated in the semifinals of 2007, after losing 10-1 to Thailand, who went on to become champions.

Thailand are the clear favourites this year, having also won in 2005.

They lost to Indonesia in the 2002 final.

Myanmar, meanwhile have come in second in the past two HBT events.The Brunei Times