SEA Games: Cambodia Eliminated, Keisuke Honda Resigns as Coach

– Keisuke Honda stepped down from his position as coach of the Cambodia National Football Team after being eliminated in the group stage of the 2023 SEA Games.

Cambodia failed to win a ticket to the semifinals after only sitting third in the final Group A standings after Indonesia and Myanmar. In the preliminary round, the hosts won 4-0 over Timor Leste in the first game, drew 1-1 against the Philippines, gave up 0-2 to Myanmar, and fell 1-2 when they met Indonesia.

Cambodia only picked up four points from the four matches played. Group A also passed Indonesia and Myanmar to the last four.

“A project in Cambodia that started in 2018 has ended. I couldn’t give satisfactory results in the last tournament, but I don’t want to be frustrated because of that,” the former AC Milan player said via social media Twitter, Thursday (11/5 /2023).

“Cambodian players must know what they are going to do, so I will look forward to them in the future. Thank you to everyone who has supported us for 5 years,” said the figure who had 98 times defended the Japanese national team.

The Cambodian Football Federation expressed sadness that Honda’s team could not advance to the last four.

The former Nagoya Grampus Eight player was originally tied to a three-year contract, namely between 2018-2021. After that, the Cambodian Football Federation extended the 36-year-old’s contract until 2023.

Furthermore, the senior Cambodian national team and U-23 will be handled by Felix Dalmas. This man from Argentina also had experience working with Honda.

As a Honda player, he has defended at least 10 clubs. His career began defending his country club, Nagoya Grampus Eight. Then he ventured into Dutch, Russian, Italian, Mexican, Australian and Brazilian clubs. He has defended Italy’s top club, AC Milan, for three seasons between 2014-2017. Honda ended his playing career with Lithuanian club Sūduva Marijampole.

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