Sok Kryya Ly’s goal gave Cambodia a much needed victory in the Asean Boy’s Under-17 Football Championship at the Gelora Delta Stadium in Sidoarja, Indonesia.
The youngster, who plays for the Visakha FC youth team, struck in the 26th minute against Brunei in the 26th minute of the closely contested Group C.
Kryya Ly had notably also contributed a penalty goal for Cambodia when the Kingdom chalke up a 5-1 win over Guam at the AFC U17 Asian Cup Qualifiers last year.
Only the top teams from each of the three groups qualify for the semi-finals together with the best second placed team.
Australia had defeated Brunei 12-0 in their opening group match and play Singapore later today. The three time champions edged out Singapore 1-0 in the later Group C match to virtually confirm their semi-final berth. Luke Becvinovski scored the solitary goal deep into injury time. But the goal five minutes into the second half injury time was enough for the Aussies.
Cambodia were held to a goalless draw in their opening match by Singapore and the win today gave them a fighting but slim chance of qualifying for the semi-finals. But they will fast the might of defending champions Australia in their final group match. They need to ensure they do not lose by more than one goal and hope that Singapore loses to Brunei or wins only by the slimmest of margins.
Since the inception of the tournament, Cambodia had gone past the group stages only once before in 2016. They had qualified for the semi-finals at the tournament, hosted in Phnom Penh as the group runners-up but were beaten 1-0 in the semifinals by Vietnam and 3-0 by Thailand in the third place playoffs.
