The team were given a Police escort to the ground and welcomed by the local constabulary.
Any pre match nerves were eliminated in the dressing room with a strong rendition of Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi.
A proud moment for the starting 11 with Dave Shannon (Vic Pol) leading the boys out to sing the national anthem on their international debuts.
A well managed game plan held off the Cambodians until 10 minutes before half time with Australia conceding the first goal. The first half finished 1-0. The heat and humidity played a part but the team were confident that they were not out of the game.
Into the second half and Australia started to attack creating chances with Michael Putson (Vic Pol) and Mitch Henry (S.A Pol) both hitting the woodwork. 64 minutes in and a corner from the left hand side by Ben Jackson (Vic Pol) found Dale Ohlmus (AFP) rise above the Cambodian defence to head the equaliser.
The conditions finally hit the Australians in the 70th minute with Mitch Henry (S.A Pol) having to come off injured. The Cambodians took advantage of some tired legs and went into the lead in the 78th minute with a well worked attack.
Chasing the game in the last 10 minutes, the Australians were caught on the break and gave away a penalty with only a few minutes left to play. The resulting spot kick was well converted with the game finishing a 3-1 loss for the Australians.
Other teams watching the performance made it known they were impressed with the Australian team given the 2 months preparation given for this tournament. Coming up against sides who regularly play together at an excellent standard is clearly going to be a challenge for the boys, but they have already become clear crowd favourites.
Ron Sinclair (Vic Pol) and Andy Hughes (Vic Pol) then took to the field refereeing Vietnam vs Laos. That game finishing finishing 1-0 in favour of Laos.
An exhausted team retired to the hotel for recovery.
He is in the coke fridge in the last photo
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