Cambodia finished fourth in the 1972 Asian Cup but now finds it hard to cope with stronger sides.

The young side prepared under coach Joyong Chol for two months for the AFC Challenge Cup beginning here on April 1, informed Salakhan to The Daily Star at the Hotel Sonargaon lobby yesterday.

Cambodia, pitted against hosts Bangladesh, Guam and Palestine in Group C, arrived in Dhaka on Wednesday and had their first training session yesterday morning at the Bangladesh Navy ground.

"Now we have peace back home. We are just trying to develop our football with help from FIFA and AFC. We have worked hard for the Challenge Cup," the manager said.

Not bothered by the fact that they were facing hosts and favourites Bangladesh in the opener, Salakhan said: "Every one wants to win. We are no difference. But no one can say in advance about results. Wait and see how we play at the end of the first match.

"We lost to Singapore 2-0 in a friendly last year and all the games in this year's SEA Games in Philippines. Since then, we have been trying to increase the standard. This tournament is an opportunity for our young players, most of them around 21-22, get exposure.

"We don't have any stars among the bunch and all of them are of similar level. We are ambitious and want to finish top of the group. Then we want to go as far as we can, probably to the final."

Meanwhile, another war-torn country Palestine's coach Mohammad Sabbah considered his side favourite.

"Bangladesh, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are the best teams and if you consider their strength, we look favourites to win the title," Sabbah told yesterday.

The Palestine, who do not have any international standard venue, lost to China 2-0 but upset Singapore (in Jordan) in their Asian Cup qualifiers recently.

"The temperature here is okay but is the dry weather is difficult to cope with," he added.