Thursday, April 8, 2010

Too hot to trot

Naga Corp, 1-nil winners in the scorching heat at Olympic yesterday
No person in their right mind would play in the conditions which greeted the players at Olympic Stadium yesterday afternoon. It was like a bleedin' furnace. At least 38 degrees. For the sole Metfone C-League midweek match, credit must go to the players and officials from both teams for doing their best in the situation. The heat and humidity soon took its toll on the two teams and the first half was eminently forgettable. On the hour, Naga broke the heat-induced stupor when Joseph Oyewole outjumped the Build Bright defence to steer Chin Chom's corner over the line with a well-directed header. A minute later BBU's Augustine Ogbni should've levelled but failed to pull the trigger quick enough from a yard out before keeper Mak Theara came to the rescue. That was about the sum of the action with Naga just deserving their win but not looking anything like the team that won the championship last season. One man who did a lot of damage for them last term, 17-goal Nigerian striker Sunday Okonkwo has reportedly linked up with Thai Premier team TTM Samut Sakhon for the new season. Another familiar face missing from the Preah Khan Reach team at the weekend was Sok Rithy, the national team defender, who has had an operation on a nagging ankle injury in Vietnam.
The BBU students wilted in the heat against Naga Corp

3 comments:

Greg said...

What sort of crowds do these teams get? I can't see any fans in any of the photos.

GADAFFI said...

Hi Andy,
It's obvious we both watched the same match these time around as your views were as good as mine. http://kengadaffi.blogspot.com/2010/04/naga-earn-slim-win.html

Cheers mate and wishing you a Happy Khmer new year. Hopefully this weekend's fixtures will set the tone for a nice holiday ahead.
See ya on Saturday mate.
KEN

Andy Brouwer said...

Crowds are a tricky one to answer. It costs the locals 2,000 riel to sit in the main stand under the protection of the roof, against the sun and rain. Elsewhere in the ground it costs nothing but as its so hot, no-one in their right mind would sit out in the sun, hence the stadium in my photos looks empty. Most games there are 1-2,000 people in the main stand, according to the figures issued by the football federation. Maybe one day I'll count everyone and then compare it to the official attendance figure - if I've got nothing better to do.
For the cup finals and Super 4 play-off games as well as international matches the crowds can rise substantially into the tens of thousands.
Andy