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Lao League comes back

(KPL ) Football fans will be able to cheer for their favourite teams again in this year?s football league.

The Lao League is the highest division within the Lao Football Federation and this year?s tournament will be played at the Chao Anouvong Stadium from 20 February to 11 April after one year of absence due to the 25th SEA Games.

This year?s league draws 10 football clubs to compete, including Vientiane, Bank of the Lao PDR, the Lao-American College, Haisok, Moon the Night, Customs Department, Ezra, Army, Ministry of Public Security, and Ministry of Public Works and Transport.

The Lao Football League in 2008 saw the competition of 10 football clubs including Lao-American College, Vientiane, Army, Public Works and Transport, Ministry of Public Security, Bank of the Lao PDR, Ezra, Lao Journalists? Association, the National University of Laos and Moon the Night. The Army was the champion of Lao Football League in 2008.

The Lao Football Federation will organise the league and host the Asean Cup tournament at the end of next year.

The tag minnows is no longer applicable to Laos football - men or women. Since making their appearance at the 1995 SEA Games in Thailand, the Laotian national side has been a constant feature of the biennial Asean Football Championships. Following their win over Brunei and the Philippines in 1995, they followed it up with a victory over Malaysia in the Jakarta SEA Games two years later. Enroute to a place in the semi-finals this year, Laos had also drawn against Myanmar (1-1) and Singapore (0-0) while beaten Indonesia 2-0.

And tomorrow, they will be looking to scalp the Malaysians for the second time in 12 years to win a place in the final. LFF president Phouvanh Vongsouthi said that the progress made by the national side or in this case the national Under-23 squad was due to a revamp in the programme.

"We are changing the way we look at our development programmes where we have come to rely more on the close relationships we have with several countries in the region to develop our football," said Phouvanh.

"For the current SEA Games, we sent our U23 team for an attachment to Vietnam with club Hoang Anh Gia Lai where for more than a year, all their expenses in terms of training, lodging and whatever were all taken care of by the Vietnam club.

"I believe for us, it is a better way of developing our football since Laos is a small country and we firmly believe in the ideals of the ASEAN brotherhood."

Domestic competitions are also active with over 60 clubs competing at various levels even though it is mostly restricted to the amateur levels with the top teams from the government ministries or public services. As the Laos men’s football chart further into the unknown, their women’s team will be up against Vietnam in a crucial match later today to see if they can win a place in the final against Thailand on December 16.

The Laotian girls began their campaign in women’s football this year with a 1-1 draw against Myanmar, a 4-1 loss to defending champions Thailand and then a 5-0 win over Malaysia.

Source: SEAG

The opening match in Group B football of the 25th SEA Games in Laos will be played on 5 December considering that they are only four teams in the group as against five teams in Group A.

The first match in Group B at the National Stadium will be Singapore taking on Indonesia while hosts Laos will play Myanmar, who were the silver medallist two years ago in Thailand.


GROUPINGS

Group A: Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Timor Leste, Cambodia

Group B: Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, Indonesia


FIXTURES

2 Dec (Main Stadium): Malaysia vs Timor Leste (1500hrs)/ Thailand vs Vietnam (1745hrs)

4 Dec (Chao Anu Vong Stadium): Thailand vs Cambodia 1500hrs)/ Vietnam vs Timor Leste (1745hrs)

5 Dec (Main Stadium): Singapore vs Indonesia (1500hrs)/ Laos vs Myanmar (1745hrs)

6 Dec (Main Stadium): Vietnam vs Malaysia (1500hrs)/ Timor Leste vs Cambodia (1745hrs)

7 Dec (Chao Anu Vong Stadium): Myanmar vs Singapore (1500hrs)/ Indonesia vs Laos (1745hrs)

8 Dec (Chao Anu Vong Stadium): Timor Leste vs Thailand (1500hrs)/ Cambodia vs Malaysia (1745hrs)

9 Dec: Opening Ceremony

10 Dec (Chao Anu Vong Stadium): Myanmar vs Indonesia (1500hrs)/ Laos vs Singapore (1745hrs)

11 Dec (Chao Anu Vong Stadium): Cambodia vs Vietnam (1500hrs)/ Malaysia vs Thailand (1500hrs)

14 Dec (Chao Anu Vong Stadium): Semi-finals

17 Dec: Third/ Fourth Placing (1500hrs at Chao Anu Vong Stadium)/ FINAL (1700hrs at Main Stadium)

The Lao Women's Football Federation will organise a final test event for its players on November 18-19 before the SEA Games get underway in December.

After conceding several goals at the International Women's Football Tournament held in Quang Ninh , Vietnam , last month, the team will play against a club from Chonbury province, Thailand , as a final test before the games.

Assistant coach Mr Viengsavanh Sengchanh accepted yesterday that his team was not as strong compared with the Thai and Vietnamese teams because they didn't practise before the tournament.

“We had left early hoping to practise in Vietnam for 10 days, but unfortunately there was a big storm in Vietnam then so for those 10 days we just ate and slept. We returned home for five days but the tournament organisers invited us to participate in the event so we decided to go ahead even though the players weren't fit,” he said.

After coming back from the tournament, the team starting practising hard by using the experience of the loss, and now they are getting better and are ready to take on the Thai team this month.

The squad has been training since April this year, and the federation invited countries in the region to a tournament in Champassak province. The Lao women were runners-up in the event.

“We have 25 players who are strong and ready to play in the SEA Games; I think they will be able to hold their heads high next month,” Mr Viengsavanh said.

The test event on November 18-19 will be another trial run for the Chao Anouvong and Dongdok stadiums to see if they are ready for the SEA Games.

“Fans can go to cheer the team for free during the competition on both days,” he said.

Mr Viengsavanh also explained that after the match the federation will continue with training and will select the final 20 players for the SEA Games.

“We promise we'll get one of the three medals for Laos ,” he said.

The women's football matches will be played in a group comprising Malaysia , Thailand , Myanmar , Vietnam and Laos .

“ Vietnam has the strongest team but we are trying our best,” Mr Viengsavanh said.

By Souknilundon Southivongnorath
Vientianetimes

Laos captain Kitsada was named the Most Valuable Player in the BIDC Cup 2009 in Phnom Phen, Cambodia. The final results of the BIDC Cup is as follow:

The winner: Cambodia U-23
Second: Hoang Anh Gia Lai, Vietnam
Third: Vissai Ninh Binh
Fouth: Laos U-23

Cambodia’s Samrith Seiha was voted the tournament’s Best Goalkeeper, and Evaldo Goncaves of HAGL collected the Top Scorer award.

Photo: roubroum.blogspot.com

Bangladesh drew 3-3 with Laos to finish fourth. Laos are bottom with one point, two behind fifth-placed Macau.

Korea Republic beat Thailand 2-1 on Wednesday as both teams qualified from Group E for the AFC U-19 Championship 2010 finals.

Vietnam put themselves in a strong position to claim the best third-placed berth in the finals from East Asia by beating Macau 3-0.

Korea Republic, Thailand and Vietnam all finished on 12 points with the Koreans topping the group on goal difference.

Thailand and Vietnam had exactly the same goals for and against of 9-2. However, the Thais claimed second place because of their 1-0 victory the Vietnamese on Sunday.

Korea Republic’s victory at the Royal Thai Army Stadium came courtesy of an 88th-minute Seo Hong-min goal. Earlier, the Thais went into half-time with a 1-0 lead after Chakrit Ravanprakon scored in the 21st minute.

Source: AFC