Coach Leonardo Vitorino of Cambodia has given the update on his team preparation ahead of the International Friendly match against Indonesia in the pre-match press conference that took place this morning.
Cambodia have never beaten Indonesia in more than 20 years as their best result is a 1-1 draw in FIFA World Cup qualification round in 1997, so the Brazilian has urged his players to use their past defeats and local supporters as motivations to win tomorrow’s match.
Coach Leonardo Vitorino told the reporters: “First of all, Cambodia haven’t won any game against Indonesia in more than 20 years, so I tell my players [about the previous defeats]. Some players have never seen Cambodia win Indonesia. This is one motivation for my players. I have two players who are 17 years old, and some are over 21 years old. They have to put in their mind that they need to have motivation to win the game tomorrow as there’ll be so many people coming to the game, and they never saw Cambodia win Indonesia [before]. In the last five games against Indonesia, Cambodia conceded [more than] 21 gaols, so I think it’s a good motivation for the players, and it’s a good motivation for the supporters. Tomorrow we will play with one more player. Our supporters will have to be one more player for us. All the games at home, we need the supporters as they are one more player. We need supporters for the game tomorrow and also for the game against Afghanistan.”
Coach Leonardo Vitorino felt pleased as the team has received full support from the Football Federation of Cambodia (FFC).
Coach Leonardo Vitorino said: “As the National Team’s coach, I just have positive points. We have our sponsor, Superfit, so the players now can go to the gym, and they have a good preparation and get a very good support from the Football Federation [of Cambodia]. I just have some positive points to talk about our preparation. It’s just a good thing as the Federation has provided everything for us because our target is the game against Afghanistan. Sure, tomorrow we want to have a good game, but the importance for us is the match against Afghanistan, so this is the target for us.”
The former head coach of Lanexang United FC of Laos will focus more on his team’s performance than the result as it is a preparation for the match against Afghanistan in the AFC Asian Cup qualifying round on 13th June 2017.
“For tomorrow, the performance is more important than the result of the game because Indonesia is looking for the AFC Competition [AFC U23 Championship qualifying round], and we are preparing for the match against Afghanistan [in AFC Asian Cup qualifying round]. Tomorrow, we will use some young players to see how they can do in the game and also how they can do against Afghanistan. Tomorrow will be a good game to watch because they have a good team, and we also progress a little bit,” he added.
Tomorrow’s International Friendly match will be Coach Leonardo Vitorino’s third match in charge as the head coach of Cambodia, and the match will be played at National Olympic Stadium tomorrow at 18.30 (Cambodian time).
Photo of Coach Leonardo Vitorino (left) and striker Chan Vathanaka (right) in the pre-match press conference courtesy of FFC
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