Cambodian policemen inside the stadium leapt out of their seats whenever the hosts went close to scoring, members of the local media could not conceal their allegiance while volunteers tasked with helping visitors and foreign media had their attention only on the match.
Along with a partisan 4,725 crowd at the RSN Stadium, they pushed Cambodia to a historic place in the semi-finals on Saturday after the hosts’ 1-0 win over Singapore.
The result also meant that the Lionesses’ SEA Games football campaign came to an end. Singapore coach Karim Bencherifa, who was appointed in March, congratulated Cambodia and pointed to his opponents’ preparation, which included a six-month training camp in China, as the difference.
