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| By
: jam Loving, Picture by : Bobby Viceral. |
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Cambodian
football is rising from its war torn ashes with
its National Football team under the leadership
of Cambodian Football Federation president, Ravy
Khek and German coach Joachim Fickert.
Due to many years of unrest in the country there
was no organized soccer being played. The conflicts
destroyed the records of the history of Cambodian
football. All that can be pieced together at this
time is from the memory of those who were there.
Cambodia is remembered as being one of the strongest
teams in the region during the 1950's and 60's,
Ravy noted. When the Vietnam War spread to Cambodia,
Ravy said football virtually disappeared. He pointed
out that the team was competitive with Thailand,
India and Burma who were then the best in the |
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region. Fickert
recalled that Cambodia had success in the 60's with wins
over India, Japan and China.
After returning to Cambodia from France for the 1993 elections,
the now 42 year-old Ravy began his quest to resurrect
football in his war torn country. "There was no contact
with the rest of the world," Ravy recalled of the
time that the sport wasn't being played in his country.
"We were not members of FIFA and the AFC. Once we
became members, we received help," he said. It's
been a rocky road in trying to restore the sport to its
former prominence. The plan now is to get the team to
be competitive on an international basis, which equates
to training, money and experience. Ravy then organized
a football league in 1994. A National team was assembled
that went on to lose all of their 1995 SEA Games matches
- giving up 32 goals and scoring zero. They then applied
for the qualifying round of the World Cup for the first
time ever in 1996. Per Ravy's request, the German Football
Federation assigned Fickert in June of the same year to
coach the Cambodian squad and to develop football in the
country. It was his job to organize a competitive team
and to find and train referees and some 400 coaches in
nine provinces. Practice and playing facilities were scarce.
There was no youth training program that Fickert could
draw from to recruit for his squad. He had to start from
scratch.
Fickert knew that he had to find young players with talent...
the question was where do you find them? One resource
was obtaining athletes from the military and police squads
that already exist. He gradually replaced older players
with a younger group who had enthusiasm and were willing
to listen and learn the techniques of the game. With Fickert
at the helm, the team then made a dramatic improvement
finishing third in the 1997 Presidents Cup played in the
Philippines. The squad continued their winning ways with
a fifth place finish of the ten competitors in the 1997
SEA Games in Jakarta Indonesia. The program is to learn
how to crawl, walk and then run to become competitive
at the international level. To achieve that, they have
to work with what little they have basically the bare
necessities. The lack of money and sponsorship is holding
the team back from improving and progressing. The team
cannot prepare properly to compete in the upcoming Asian
Games in August and the Tiger Cup in October. Through
its GOAL-Program, FIFA pledged one million dollars over
a four-year period to help develop football for the youths
of Cambodia. Cambodia is currently a very young team with
5-6 players on their roster who still attend high school.
The 29-year-old Sochetra has returned to the squad and
defender Pros Him, also 29-year-old, is practicing with
the team and may also return. That will give the squad
maturity and big game international playing experience.
Their problem is after a lengthy time off the squad, they
need to work themselves into playing shape. With all things
considered for the team to improve and progress, it needs
support and money. Money is needed to pay for the expenses
to play friendly matches against top-notch competition
for this Cambodian National team to rise from the ashes.
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Suite
B8, Regency Square, InterContinental Hotel, 294 Mao Tse Toung
Boulevard,
Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia.
Tel: (855) 23 213 133 Fax: (855) 23 213 033
E-mail:
editor@leisurecambodia.com |
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