Hanoi: They might be eliminated from title contention but Cambodia have promised to make a ‘new history’ when they face Vietnam in Hanoi tomorrow.

Despite an impressive 3-1 win against Laos in their previous outing, earlier losses to Malaysia and Myanmar mean that the Angkor Warriors can’t reach the last four but there’s still plenty to play for according to defender Hong Pheng.

“If we look back through history I can’t remember Cambodia winning against Vietnam so we want to make a new history and make our people proud and hope to do something big tomorrow.”

The composed central defender has also vowed to try and make their new coaching staff proud even as one of the team’s two co-coaches, Keisuke Honda, is back in Australia due to playing commitments.

“Even though we are eliminated from the group we still have a lot to play for tomorrow.

“We want to show our coach that we can play how he wants us to play and also show the people in Cambodia that we are playing well.”

Although they weren’t able to progress to the knockout stage for the first time, a win or a draw against Vietnam tomorrow would mark the first occasion that the nation has garnered more three points.

It would also go some way towards justifying the decision that shocked many as a global star in Honda decided to try and lead Cambodian football to new heights.

“Honestly, we were surprised to hear that Keisuke Honda will come to work with our team because he’s a world-class player and when I heard that news it was unbelievable but it’s such a great thing for Cambodian football.

“Tomorrow we will play how our coach wants us to play, technically, even though the result doesn’t matter but we want to give our all to play a good match.”