Phnom Penh : It is Cambodia’s swan-song in the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers on Friday night. The national team will try to redeem some pride when they play Iran in their final appearance in the Asian qualifying rounds. Their chances of making it through to the next round have already evaporated after their defeat at the hands of Iraq on Monday.

The national team is eager to prove they are worth more than what the scores show, however. Head coach, Ryu Hirose, says he’ll deploy his best team on Friday night, recalling experienced midfielder Kouch Sokumpheak back to the starting 11 after he was benched on Monday. Thierry Bin is also pushing for a start.

Iran’s head coach Dragan Skocic is taking nothing for granted. He says he wants nothing less than three points but also added, “We respect Cambodia. I’ve seen their matches and I have to say their performance is better than their result.”

Cambodia and Iran have played each other just once before, in the first leg of their World Cup qualifiers back in September 2019. Iran smashed Cambodia in a historic 14-nil victory. We can only hope Cambodia do a little better on Friday night.