Article Link 4 Views 0 Visits By ant on Sep 24 2008, 3:48 am

www.laosmile.com - The Lao women’s football squad is undergoing training with German coach Volker Hofferbert in preparation for their third international competition next month. From today, the team has only 15 days in which to improve their tactics before competing in the 2008 Asean Women’s Championship, to be held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The tournament will run from October 8-20 and nine teams will compete - eight from southeast Asean nations and newcomer Australia. Lao women’s squad head coach Mr Hofferbert said “The team is well placed for the tournament in Vietnam after two warm-up games in Savannakhet province.” “The players showed a satisfactory demonstration of their ability by beating the Savannakhet all-stars team 5-0. This team is preparing for the National Games in Champassak in December.” “Taking part in the Asean Women’s Championship, which kicks off in two weeks’ time, is one step on the path to shining at next year’s SEA Games on home soil,” Mr Hofferbert said. “The team is in good shape in general and is practising standard moves like free and corner kicks and combinations for teamwork. But I can’t make comparisons with other tournaments, because it’s my first tournament with this team.” “We will attempt to play good games and help the players to gain experience on the international stage. I think it’s unlikely we will reach the semi-finals because the team won’t get any international warm-up matches and the other teams in the group are very strong. But in football anything can happen,” he added. The Asean Women’s Championship is the third tournament for the Lao side in regional competition. It will be an important arena for the Lao women footballers because the results will be a strong indication of how they are likely to fare at the 2009 SEA Games in Vientiane. The first tournament for the Lao team was in the 2007 Asean Women’s Championship in Yangon, Myanmar. They did not get past the group stage, after losing 1-13 to Thailand, 0-7 to Myanmar and beating Singapore 3-1. But the Lao women surprised everyone in their second international competition by reaching the semi-finals of the 2007 SEA Games in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. In the semis match they went down 0-8 to host Thailand and lost 0-5 to Myanmar in the third place play-off. In this year’s Asean Women’s Championship Laos has been drawn in Group A together with defending champion Myanmar, host Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia, while Group B includes newcomer Australia, the Philippines, Singapore and 2007 SEA Games gold medalist Thailand.