EASY TIME: India did not face any resistance from Cambodia. (Photo: CNN-IBN)Nehru Cup: India thrash Cambodia
New Delhi, Aug. 17 (PTI): India made a flying start to the ONGC Nehru Cup football tournament, overpowering Cambodia 6-0, with Steven Dias and Sunil Chetri scoring a brace and N P Pradeep and skipper Bhaichung Bhutia also chipping in with a goal each.
Once the hosts settled down, they dominated the encounter and the match was largely played in the Cambodian half as the South-east Asians were taught a footballing lesson.
The forward line of Bhutia and local lad Sunil Chetri constantly troubled the opposition defenders and Renedy Singh and Steven Dias were quick to capitalise.
The Indians took the lead in the 17th minute when Pradeep received a lay-off from Bhutia and unleashed a vicious right-footer that screamed into the bottom left hand corner giving Cambodian custodian Oum Veasna no chance.
The goal increased the confidence of Bob Houghton's side and the Indians proceeded to give the opposition more trouble with a freekick from Renedy in the 28th minute hitting the crossbar.
On one of the rare Cambodian forays, the ball was saved on the Indian goalline by Renedy.
But the Indian attacks kept coming and a sliding Pradeep hit a Dias centre just wide off goal.
The woodwork denied India again when a header from Pradeep was blocked by the keeper and Bhutia's rebound came off the upright.
Once the hosts settled down, they dominated the encounter and the match was largely played in the Cambodian half as the South-east Asians were taught a footballing lesson.
The forward line of Bhutia and local lad Sunil Chetri constantly troubled the opposition defenders and Renedy Singh and Steven Dias were quick to capitalise.
The Indians took the lead in the 17th minute when Pradeep received a lay-off from Bhutia and unleashed a vicious right-footer that screamed into the bottom left hand corner giving Cambodian custodian Oum Veasna no chance.
The goal increased the confidence of Bob Houghton's side and the Indians proceeded to give the opposition more trouble with a freekick from Renedy in the 28th minute hitting the crossbar.
On one of the rare Cambodian forays, the ball was saved on the Indian goalline by Renedy.
But the Indian attacks kept coming and a sliding Pradeep hit a Dias centre just wide off goal.
The woodwork denied India again when a header from Pradeep was blocked by the keeper and Bhutia's rebound came off the upright.
3 comments:
There goes the pride of Cambodia! Are we still the sick men of Asia? We couldn't even field the defense, let alone launching the attack.
I'm not blaming the players, who I'm sure were doing their best. I'm blaming those officials who look after the Cambodian sports and those national leaders who are more concerned with counting their corrupt money than the pride of the nation.
In sport it is not about winning all the time! It is about sportsmanship! If Cambodia wants to be hardcore about sport and they must be trained at early age provide with good nutrition and maybe some doping right before the game? Ahahahhah
I don't blame these inexperience Cambodian athletics because there is a lot of room for improvement! Well! Go back to the drawing board!
The Cambodian national team of course have a long way to go to compete with almost any other team in the SE Asia region let alone the rest of the world. I don't doubt the players enthusiasm but anyone who has ever seen them train or talked to the players will quickly understand that they are surrounded by a lot of people who see football and the limited money they get as a way of self-enrichment. The players have inadequate training facilities, little equipment or kit and a meagre salary. I imagine most players have other jobs just to make ends meet. Their original training facility was built too far from town and most players could not afford the petrol to get there two times a day for training sessions. Now they train at the national stadium but it is frequently closed to them because of other events. If Cambodians truly cared about achieving some degree of sporting success they have to let their leaders know that sport is important to them and their country. Even local big business men deny them the chance to train on open spaces (owned by them) when the National stadium is unavailable - who cares about sport when there is money to be made? Who cares about sport when there is not money to be made?
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