Monday, April 26, 2010

The moment(s) of truth

Cambodian referee Tuy Vichheka is someone I have a bee in my bonnet about. When he's not booking players on a whim and rattling up twelve or fourteen yellow cards in a match, with a couple of reds thrown in for good measure, he's making decisions that leave me speechless. One such decision, to disallow an Uche Prince Justine goal for Phnom Penh Crown on Saturday, that would've been in the running for goal of the season without a doubt, saw me demanding close analysis of replays of the incident on television pundit shows. There aren't any but you know what I mean. The Prince played two 1-2's with Oscar Mpoko to carve open the Khemara defence and powered home a finish in his typical bustling style. It was a superb goal but not in the eyes of Tuy Vichheka. He blew for a handball incident that only he saw and Nick Sells' excellent action shots posted here suggest that if a handball did occur, it was the arm of defender Sok Vannak that made contact with the ball. Typically, Vichheka then flashed the yellow card with his normal flourish, suggesting The Prince had sought to gain an illegal advantage. What poppycock. I will closely monitor the rest of the season where Tuy Vichheka is involved. This man needs to be watched.
Prince Justine (20) splits the Khemara defence with two 1-2's with Oscar Mpoko
The ball bounces up and onto the arm of Khemara defender Sok Vannak
The Prince brushes aside the challenge of Sok Vannak as he powers through
Prince Justine gets his shot away as he's challenged by Khemara's Kun Kuon
Goalkeeper Ly Sokheng is powerless to stop The Prince's goalbound effort
The Prince's ecstasy turns to acute disappointment as Tuy Vichheka disallows the goal and books the striker for deliberate handball
All photos courtesy of: http://www.nicksellsphotography.com

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

hi andy i appreciate ur effort to bring to light the truth about the games going on this season, honestly i dont no if the referee always hav me in my mind this season, the 1st yellow card i got was a challenge which i won the ball and now is a handball by a defender and i was booked, this is high level of injustice towards me as a foreigner, or re they trying to frustrate me this season, but the cant pull me down with ur kind of person and nick who stand for the truth im consoled , thanks once more . justine

Andy Brouwer said...

Hi Justine,
it's not just you that must be feeling frustrated with the match officials this season. I usually agree with about 20-25% of the yellow cards dished out so far this campaign and some players have missed games because of the referees' keeness to flash yellow, players like Lay Raksmey for example, with two reds in two games. I think you've been unlucky with a couple of incidents so far though I would expect them to even themselves out over the season. You'll get decisions that go against you and ones that go in your favour, its just a pity that the decision on Saturday went against you, as it was a wonderful goal.
Keep your chin up.
Andy

Anonymous said...

yes u re right Lay Raksmey need to be sympathize with, i mean this young man is one of the dedicated defender in cambodia who dont depend on foreigner to do his own work for him, he want to improve every day i hav played against him on several occasion but look at what the referee re doing to him, if care is not taken he will loss confidence and is not a good news for cambodia national team cos i see a good future in his carrier