By Ek Madra
PHNOM PENH, Dec 25 (Reuters) - Cambodia's new soccer coach, former South Korean international Yoo Kee-heung, aims to transform the region's whipping boys into one of the best teams in Southeast Asia.
Yoo said he had a proven track-record of success, and potholed pitches and a chronic cash shortage will not prevent him from turning the hapless part-timers into a respectable team.
"I am confident and I want this team to be number one," Yoo told Reuters during his first training session with Cambodia, who have conceded 21 goals in their last four matches.
"I want these players to be confident. I have never failed the teams I have been in charge of."
Trained in Brazil and Germany and a former coach with South Korea's 1994 World Cup squad, Yoo has been sent to the hard-up country as a gift from a Korean firm who will pay his $100,000 yearly salary.
RAGTAG TEAM
Having coached soccer minnows Bhutan and Nepal, he knows that transforming a winless, ragtag team sitting 183rd in the FIFA rankings will not be easy.
"What's most challenging here is that the ball doesn't even go in a straight line," said Yoo, perched on a plastic chair on the sidelines of a bumpy, balding pitch on the dusty outskirts of Phnom Penh.
"This team lacks funding, it needs training equipment. They are too poor, lots of things need to be changed."
Introduced to soccer in the 1960s by French colonialists, Cambodia were fast improvers before a brutal civil war, including the Khmer Rouge "killing fields" genocide, curtailed their progress and led to a 23-year absence from the game.
Since their return from the international wilderness, the national team have been subjected to countless humiliating defeats and struggle to find money to travel to away matches.
However, Yoo said he had arranged for the best players to go to South Korea to train with professional teams.
Among his ambitious plans is to nurture the players of the future by promoting soccer in all Cambodian schools.
"I have a lot of responsability and the weight is on my shoulders," he said.
"But I always think ahead. I am 60-years-old, I cannot play for them but I can teach them tactics. If they follow me they will get good results."
(Editing by Martin Petty and Peter Rutherford)
Yoo said he had a proven track-record of success, and potholed pitches and a chronic cash shortage will not prevent him from turning the hapless part-timers into a respectable team.
"I am confident and I want this team to be number one," Yoo told Reuters during his first training session with Cambodia, who have conceded 21 goals in their last four matches.
"I want these players to be confident. I have never failed the teams I have been in charge of."
Trained in Brazil and Germany and a former coach with South Korea's 1994 World Cup squad, Yoo has been sent to the hard-up country as a gift from a Korean firm who will pay his $100,000 yearly salary.
RAGTAG TEAM
Having coached soccer minnows Bhutan and Nepal, he knows that transforming a winless, ragtag team sitting 183rd in the FIFA rankings will not be easy.
"What's most challenging here is that the ball doesn't even go in a straight line," said Yoo, perched on a plastic chair on the sidelines of a bumpy, balding pitch on the dusty outskirts of Phnom Penh.
"This team lacks funding, it needs training equipment. They are too poor, lots of things need to be changed."
Introduced to soccer in the 1960s by French colonialists, Cambodia were fast improvers before a brutal civil war, including the Khmer Rouge "killing fields" genocide, curtailed their progress and led to a 23-year absence from the game.
Since their return from the international wilderness, the national team have been subjected to countless humiliating defeats and struggle to find money to travel to away matches.
However, Yoo said he had arranged for the best players to go to South Korea to train with professional teams.
Among his ambitious plans is to nurture the players of the future by promoting soccer in all Cambodian schools.
"I have a lot of responsability and the weight is on my shoulders," he said.
"But I always think ahead. I am 60-years-old, I cannot play for them but I can teach them tactics. If they follow me they will get good results."
(Editing by Martin Petty and Peter Rutherford)
No comments:
Post a Comment