Japanese football coach parts ways with Cambodia following SEA Games exit

"My journey with Cambodian football ended yesterday," Honda wrote on Facebook on Thursday, after the hosts Cambodia lost 2-1 to Indonesia in the last game of group A and were eliminated from SEA Games 32.

"We wanted to get better results, but we couldn't. Sometimes in life we can't keep our promises, and for me personally, this reality is hard to accept."

Keisuke Honda applauds and says goodbye to the fans after Cambodia lost 1-2 to Indonesia in SEA Games 32 on May 10, 2023. Photo by VnExpress/Lam Thoa

Honda, 36, was one of the best Japanese midfielders in his prime from 2010-2017, when he played in Europe for Russia’s CSKA Moscow and Italian giant AC Milan.

He became the technical director of Cambodian football in 2018. Honda mostly worked online then, as he was still playing for clubs in Australia, Brazil, Netherlands, Azerbaijan and Lithuania.

With Honda, Cambodia reached the semifinals of SEA Games for the first time in 2019, but lost 4-0 to Vietnam, who went on to win gold. At that tournament, Honda was still coaching the team from afar and the person in charge was Felix Dalmas, a young Argentine coach.

Honda only started coaching directly from 2021, after retiring as a player. Cambodia were eliminated from the group stage of SEA Games 31 in Vietnam last year, but Honda still received support from fans. They hoped that Honda would help the host Cambodia create a miracle run at this SEA Games 32 but it did not happen.

Cambodia started strong by defeating Timor Leste 4-0, but drew with the Philippines 1-1 before losing 2-0 to Myanmar and 2-1 to Indonesia.

Honda said he was disappointed Cambodia could not achieve the desired results in the past five years. But the love, passion of the players and the support from the fans were the motivation, faith and hope for him to keep going with the five-year project.

"Thank you for supporting us. I'm proud of you all! Thank you Cambodia," Honda said.

At SEA Games 32, Honda directly coached Cambodia. But due to lacking a coaching license, his compatriot Ryu Hirose was registered as head coach and represented the team at press conferences. Like Honda, Hirose has also now parted ways with Cambodia.