PHNOM PENH: 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 South-East Asia.
Kee-heung 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, Kee-heung has been sent to the hard-up country as a gift from a Korean firm who will pay his US$100,000 yearly salary.
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 Kee-heung, perched on a plastic chair on the sidelines of a bumpy, balding pitch on the dusty outskirts of Phnom Penh.
“This team lack funding, they need training equipment. They are too poor, lots of things need to be changed.”
Kee-heung 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 football in all Cambodian schools. – Reuters
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