Cambodia vs Philippines

Morodok Techo National Stadium plays host to an AFF Championship Group A curtain-raiser between Cambodia and the Philippines.

Cambodia head into the tournament on the back of five consecutive winless internationals (D1, L4), including a 4-0 humbling at the hands of Malaysia earlier this month. A lack of scoring prowess poses a major threat to the Cambodians’ bid to avenge a humiliating 8-0 defeat in their most recent H2H against the Philippines back in 2013. Indeed, the ‘Angkor Warriors’ have failed to trouble the scoresheet four times across their last five outings while conceding 2+ goals on four occasions in that same timeframe. Overall, 2022 has been a massive waste for Keisuke Honda’s side as they’ve only won once in their six matches this calendar year (D1, L4), though four (67%) of them have featured over 2.5 goals, highlighting the potential for a high-scoring affair.

In the meantime, the Philippines have hit a rough patch since a 1-0 triumph over sub-par Mongolia in June, losing back-to-back games without scoring in the aftermath, including a narrow 1-0 defeat at Vietnam last time out. Their propensity for producing low-scoring contests has seen five of the Philippines’ last six international fixtures contain under 2.5 total goals, with none of them witnessing both teams on the scoreboard. Therefore, breaking the deadlock could be of the utmost importance, especially considering it’s been over four years since the ‘Street Dogs’ last won a match in which they conceded the opening goal, doing so in a 2-1 win over Tajikistan in March 2018.