Just a few days before the ASEAN Cup 2026 kicks off, the media of the Land of Ten Thousand Islands has paid special attention to the Cambodian team, the team in the same group as Vietnam and Indonesia.
According to a leading Indonesian newspaper, Cambodia is no longer in the position of a weak team but is gradually building a force capable of competing with regional rivals.
This newspaper believes that Cambodia's change comes from a multi-year investment strategy. The Cambodian Football Federation promotes cooperation with Japan in training, and appoints coach Koji Gyotoku to lead the national team. In parallel with that is the addition of naturalized players to improve the quality of the squad.
The squad participating in ASEAN Cup 2026 of Cambodia has 4 naturalized players including Iago Bento (Brazil), Yudai Ogawa (Japan), Alisher Mirzaev (Uzbekistan) and Abdel Kader Coulibaly (Ivory Coast). Among them, Iago Bento is considered a key factor after many seasons playing in the Cambodian national championship and meeting the conditions to wear the national team jersey.
Besides experienced faces such as captain Sos Suhana or striker Sieng Chanthea, Cambodia also brought to the tournament a youth force with many players being called up for the first time. This is a step to prepare for a long-term goal, creating more youth for the squad.
Indonesian newspapers also emphasized that the national team cannot rely on the past to assess the opponent. The 8-0 victory over Cambodia more than 20 years ago no longer reflects the true current strength. According to this newspaper, being subjective against Cambodia may cause coach John Herdman's team many difficulties in the race to win a ticket to the semi-finals.
Cambodia also showed positive signs in terms of expertise when they won against Hong Kong (China) 2-0 in June, and also had competitive matches against Vietnam, Tajikistan and Malaysia recently.
At ASEAN Cup 2026, they will successively meet Singapore, Indonesia, Timor Leste before facing Vietnam in the last match of the group stage.
