Vientiane: Laos overcame a two-goal first-leg deficit to progress to the second round of the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers at the expense Cambodia after scoring twice in extra-time of the second-leg for a remarkable 8-6 aggregate win over their ASEAN neighbours.
Cambodia went into Sunday's match at the National Stadium in confident mood having won the first-leg in Phnom Penh 4-2.
However, Laos had levelled the tie on aggregate after half-an-hour, with star striker Lamnao Singto opening the scoring in the 19th minute before Khampheng Sayavutthi grabbing a 31st minute second.
Chhin Chhoeun put the visitors back in the driving seat on the stroke of half-time but Cambodia's advantage was short-lived, with Souliya Syphasay restoring parity two minutes into the second-half before Laos regained the initiative thanks to Lamnao's second of the game in the 55th minute.
The Cambodians were not giving up without a fight and Kouch Sokumpheak, a first-leg scorer, found the net in the 75th minute with the goal that saw regulation time in Vientiane finish 4-2, mirroring the scoreline four days earlier and necessitating 30 minutes of additional action.
Laos took control of the contest and scored just four minutes into extra-time courtesy of Visay Phaphovanin before Sysomvang Kanlaya put some distance between the home side and the Cambodians with his team's sixth of the match in the 112th minute, setting up a second-round clash with China.
Kaz Phonesak Patafta, (born 25 October 1988 in Canberra) is an Australian football (soccer) attacking midfielder who currently plays for the Newcastle Jets. He attended Radford College in Canberra and received a football scholarship to the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in 2004. He is of Croatian and Laotian descent.
Lao National TV covered the story of Kaz
Until that date, he had been ignored by Australia's A-League squads but soon, two European giants, PSV Eindhoven (whose interest was due to the recommendation of then Australian national team manager, Guus Hiddink) and SL Benfica, expressed interest in signing him [1]. The Portuguese side won the race for the Australian youngster but his move overseas was initially blocked by Football Federation Australia because he was under the age of 18. He eventually joined Benfica's B-Squad in January 2006. His first game for the Benfica first team was against CF Estrela da Amadora in a pre-season game on 15 August 2006.
Kaz Interview
Patafta joined Australian A-League champions Melbourne Victory on loan for the 2007/08 season. He played his first game for Melbourne Victory in a pre-season match against Sydney FC, to which they lost 1-0. He has mostly made appearances off the bench in the 2007/08 A-League season, amid suggestions he is not physical enough, or even big enough for the league. His first goal in the A-League, a left foot shot from a tight angle, came in the round 20 encounter against Wellington Phoenix.
Watch his interview in World sport
In May 2008, Patafta secured a release from the remainder of his contract with Benfica with the assistance of the Australian Professional Footballers' Association. On 2 June 2008, Patafta signed a 1 year deal with the Newcastle Jets.[
International career Patafta gained attention when he captained the Australian Under-17 football team, the "Joeys", during the 2005 World Championships in Peru.[4]
"In a team where most of the players show good skills with the ball, Kaz Patafta has ensured his spot and has no replacement as a midfielder. A good reader of the game and the centre of command, this boy naturally became the captain of the Aussies".
Patafta was included as part of Australia's "train-on" squad before the 2006 FIFA World Cup, along with fellow promising young Australian players Kristian Sarkies and Neil Kilkenny. Unlike these players, he was not given a senior cap in the team's three pre-World Cup friendly matches.
With little movement among the world's top teams in November's FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, little Laos stole the show by soaring up 28 places to 162nd in the global pecking order.
In doing so, the tiny South-East Asian nation became the second-best movers after Jamaica, who made an incredible 33-place leap to 83rd courtesy of their solitary-goal victories over Mexico and Honduras in qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™. Laos, for their part, made the best climb in their history due to a streak of brilliant displays in qualifying for December's AFF Suzuki Cup, previously known as the Tiger Cup...more info>>
Although qualifying for a major international or continental competition remains merely a dream for Laos, they are by no means strangers on the regional stage, having figured in each of the past six editions of the Tiger Cup, starting in 1996. Under Russian boss Valeri Vdovin, they took October's qualifying campaign by storm to book their seventh consecutive appearance at the regional showpiece.
A narrow 3-2 loss to hosts Cambodia was not what Vdovin's young charges had hoped for in their opening qualifying game on 17 October, but they staged a major comeback four days later, pulling off a 2-1 win over the Philippines to set their campaign back on track. From there, they went on to dispatch Brunei 3-2 before rounding off with a 2-1 victory over Timor Leste, a result which earned them the first qualifying spot.
Laos' impressive run didn't go unnoticed by Cambodia coach Prak Sovannara, who was full of praise for Vdovin's dynamic outfit. "Laos are a very strong team, perhaps the best team in this tournament," said the hosts' manager.
One team, two tasks The qualifying success was a testament to the nation's recent development program, which has included the signing of Vdovin in July and the launching of a training camp based in Hong Anh Gia Lai, a hotbed of football in neighbouring Vietnam. And the Suzuki Cup qualifying achievement is even more impressive when one considers that Vdovin's troops in Cambodia were an U-23 side, who are currently preparing intensely for next year's South-East Asian (SEA) Games.
In a long run, the major task for Vdovin and his team is to break new ground at the 2009 SEA Games, of which they are hosts for the first time. But with their AFF Suzuki Cup campaign kicking off on 5 December in Thailand's Phuket, the Russian tactician is aware that they have some urgent expectations to live up to.
Laos have been drawn in Group B, which also features Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, strong teams who are all capable of mounting a serious challenge for the tournament. As if this were not daunting enough, Vdovin's major concern is that he will have to stick with the same U-23 side against opponents who will all field senior national teams.
"The boys have been working very hard, it's worth considering how much progress we have made," Vdovin said to the media prior to their first game against Malaysia this weekend.
Laos have rarely been considered more than whipping boys at this level, and they had a forgettable campaign in the last edition of the tournament two years ago, when they conceded 23 goals in three group games to crash out. Vdovin, however, has higher ambitions this time around.
"It is crucial that we tighten up the defense and sharpen the finishing," he explained. "We are a young team, so we need to concentrate on keeping our shape and minimizing mistakes, now that we are competing at a higher level."
