SO CLOSE BUT YET SO FAR FOR TIMOR LESTE

PHNOM PENH (19 Oct 2008) – It was a case of coming so close but yet so far for Timor Leste when they gave away a two-goal lead to be held to a 2-2 draw by hosts Cambodia on the second match day of the AFF Suzuki Cup 2008 qualifiers at the National Olympic Stadium.The score at the end of the first half was 1-0 when Anggisu Barbosa slammed home the lead with seconds left to the breather before Jose Perreira added the second goal through a penalty in the 67th minute.But Cambodia, who had beaten Laos 3-2 in their opening game two days earlier, replied through a 78th minute penalty from Khim Borey before Sun Sovannarith grabbed the equalizer ten minutes to the end.“The most important is that we got the one point,” said Prak Sovannara, the head coach of Cambodia afterwards.“We came back after being two goals down and that speaks a lot about the ability of the players and personally, it is a wonderful result.”It was Cambodia who were the early aggressors with Ieng Saknida testing Timor keeper Leonel Araujo with a 25metre drive that went over the crossbar.Four minutes later, it was Timor’s turn when Manuel Pereira’s cross for the waiting Rosito Soares at the far end was denied by Cambodia keeper Samreth Seiha.Cambodia had the lions’s share of the exchange and in the 13th minute a header from Sun Sovannarith was blocked while some time afterwards, a swerving freekick from Chan Rithy was punched out of play by Leonel.But there was no denying Timor the lead in the 45th minute when off a cross from captain Alfredo Esteves from the right, Anggisu flicked the ball in from the far post.The break saw no changes to the way both teams played although Manuel Pereira played more as the lone striker as Timor tried to contain the pressure from the hosts who were cheered by more than 12,000 fans.With Cambodia failing to score even though they did bring in veteran midfielder Pich Sina in the 56th minute, Timor went further ahead when Jose Pereira converted a penalty in the 67th minute after Cambodian keeper Ouk Mic was penalized for bringing in down Maneul Pereira inside the box.Cambodia took a more offensive stance and they finally turned the game on its head when following sustained pressure, Timor conceced a penalty after captain Esteves was penalized for a fault on Sovannarith inside the box.Khim Borey delivered the goal from the spot to give Cambodia some glimmer of hope of stealing the one point.And they did just that in the 80th minute when Sovannarith slammed home the equalizer off a rebound.“We played well in the first half but we were under a lot of pressure in the second half,” said Pedro Almeida, the head coach for Timor Leste.“We had to defend a lot and that tires the team. But the one point is good against Cambodia.” (aseanfootball)