RSN sees Academy on form

PPCFC Academy v AEU, back row, LtoR; Sovann, Umaru, Soksela, Chhaya, Samnang, Thomas. Front Row: Suleiman, Sodavid, Chansopheak, Piphop, Phearath - click to enlarge

Sunday 31 May 2015: Phnom Penh Crown Academy 4 Asia Euro University 1 (Friendly).
This was a dominating performance by the Crown Academy ahead of their RSN Youth Cup tournament next weekend, and to give them a feel for the new RSN Stadium playing surface, the game was switched to the new pitch. It worked a treat for Ouk Sovann who chested down a cross from Kim Chhaya and swept a left foot shot into the corner for the opening goal, just 47 seconds after the start. Vat Samnang fired wide at a corner and a neat move saw In Sodavid set up Ken Chansopheak but he sent his shot spinning past the upright. Umaru Samura cut inside from a Sodavid pass but his curling effort was held by the AEU goalkeeper. Kim Chhaya had an appeal for a penalty waved away as a defender made a block with his arms and Sovann missed turning a cross from Chhaya goalwards as Crown had the lion share of possession and took delight in the perfect surface. The game was played in two halves of forty minutes.
In the second-half, it took a mere 26 seconds for Umaru to turn his marker inside out and float a beautiful effort into the far corner for number two. Chhaya provided the pass but it was the individual brilliance of the Sierra Leone midfielder that bamboozled the AEU defence and goalkeeper. On 55 minutes, Umaru was on hand to blast the ball home from a sweeping move triggered by Sodavid who sent Sovann into the box and his inch-perfect center found Umaru at the far post. Six minutes later, Sraing Titchhy's overlapping sprint took him to the bye-line and his low cross was touched in by Men Piphop. Sodavid sent a header over the bar from Chhuot Senteang's center and in injury time, AEU scored a breakaway consolation goal but Crown's passing play and performance fully deserved this convincing victory.
PPCFC Line-Up: Soksela (S Samnang 76), Chansopheak, Phearath (Titchhy 60), V Samnang (Savey 76), Thomas (Chanchav 53), Piphop (Senteang 74), Suleiman, Umaru (Ponvuthy 66), Chhaya (Muslim 66), Sodavid, Sovann (Thomas 72). Subs not used: Chanvuthy. Booking: Chhaya. Goals: Sovann (1), Umaru 2 (41, 55), Piphop (61).

Booysen's stunner

PPCFC v Naga, back row, LtoR: Boris, S Pisa, Makara, Obadin, Matnorotin, Ary. Front Row: Da, Sokheng, Boran, Booysen, Koroma - click to enlarge

Saturday 30 May 2015: Phnom Penh Crown 1 Nagaworld 0 (Friendly).
Phnom Penh Crown made their intentions clear forty seconds into their friendly at RSN Stadium this afternoon when Leng Makara broke and fed Santigie Koroma, but his sweeping shot went the wrong side of the upright. Sary Matnorotin slipped a pass to Koroma but his low drive was pushed aside by the Naga goalkeeper, and a Shane Booysen set-up saw Matnorotin with space to shoot, but his blast took a deflection off a defender's leg. Crown grabbed the opening goal on the half-hour mark when Touch Sokheng's far post corner was met by Shane Booysen in mid-air and his scissor kick arrowed into the net from an acute angle. A stunning strike. At the other end, goalkeeper Yok Ary made a great one-handed save from Chin Chum, turning his drive onto the cross-bar, and before the break Makara latched onto a Odion Obadin pass but screwed his shot across the face of goal. Moments later, Koroma and Booysen's one-two put the Sierra Leone winger in, but his shot hit a defender. Barry Lelouma struck the Crown bar from 25 yards and Naga's Om Thavrak was denied by a point-blank save by Ary, before Um Tola sent a header over the bar from Booysen's cross. A rugby tackle by Nhim Sovannara halted Booysen's thrust into the box and though the striker scored, the referee pulled the game back for a free-kick. From the dead-ball, Booysen lashed the ball against the cross-bar, Koroma latched onto the loose ball and also fired against the bar before Naga managed to clear, as Crown finished strongly. 
PPCFC V Nagaworld: Ary, Da, Boran, Boris (C Pisa 71), Obadin, S Pisa, Sokheng (Charly 64), Makara (Koroma 74), Koroma (Tola 42 (Polo 87)), Matnorotin, Booysen. Subs not used: Ursaphea, Bisan. Goal: Booysen (30). 

New home jerseys on show

George Bisan modelling the new home kit

The first batch of Phnom Penh Crown's new home kit has just arrived from FBT and a few of our players took the opportunity to show it off before this afternoon's friendly win over Nagaworld. We expect to receive the full delivery of home and away playing kits next week, including jerseys for our supporters. We'll provide more details once they arrive. Thanks to George Bisan, Sean Pisa, Thourng Da, Vat Samnang and Yue Safy who were on modelling duties.

More models with the new home jerseys: LtoR; Da, Pisa, Bisan, Samnang and Safy

RSN Youth Cup 5-7 June

RSN Youth Cup flyer - click to enlarge

• Opening Tournament at the RSN Stadium 5th-7th June, 2015
• The RSN Youth Cup 2015
• Proceeds will go to Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospitals
• 5 of the 6 matches will be televised live by Bayon TV

The opening tournament at the new RSN Stadium in Toul Kork, close to Camko City, and the home of Metfone Cambodian League Champions, Phnom Penh Crown, will take place on Friday 5th to Sunday 7th June 2015. A 4-team tournament – the RSN Youth Cup 2015 – will involve six matches played over 3 days of competition at the new stadium, with the Phnom Penh Crown Academy being joined by three of the strongest Academy (Under-18) teams in Asia, Malaysia’s Frenz United, and Chonburi and SCG Muangthong United from Thailand.
Crown President Mr Rithy Samnang, after whom the stadium is named, is the guiding force behind the 5,000-plus all-seater stadium, which has taken twenty months to construct. “This is a giant step for our club and we are honored to welcome three of the best Academies in Asia to join us for this tournament at our new stadium. I am sure it will be a spectacular beginning to a new and exciting stage in the development of our club and Cambodian football. To mark this special occasion, we will donate all the proceeds from the tournament to the Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospitals, who provide free medical care to families in Cambodia and who do such a wonderful job in caring for sick children.”
On Friday 5th June, Phnom Penh Crown Academy will open the tournament with a 5.30PM (1730) match against Frenz United from Malaysia. The match will be televised live by Bayon TV, as will five of the six games. Crown meet Thailand’s Chonburi on Saturday 6th at 4PM (1600), and will then close the tournament with a match against SCG Muangthong United at 6PM (1800) on Sunday 7th.

The Tournament Fixtures are as follows:
Friday 5th June 2015
Game 1: 1730-1930 – PPCFC vs Frenz Utd (live on BTV)
Game 2: 2000-2200 – Muangthong Utd vs Chonburi (live on BTV)
Saturday 6th June 2015
Game 1:1600-1800 – PPCFC vs Chonburi (live on BTV)
Game 2: 1800-2000 – Frenz Utd vs Muangthong Utd
Sunday 7th June 2015
Game 1: 1600-1800 – Chonburi vs Frenz Utd (live on BTV)
Game 2: 1800-2000 – PPCFC vs Muangthong Utd (live on BTV).
The admission price for each day of the tournament will be 4,000 riel, with a prize draw on Sunday for some lucky ticket holders. Tickets will be available at RSN on matchdays. The duration of each game will be 80 minutes, three foreign players are allowed to play and the tournament will be played in a league format, with the winners gaining the most points.

Two reverses in a morning

PPCFC Academy U-15s, back row, LtoR: Samnang, Chanmony, Sovannaroth, Savey, Safy (capt). Front Row: Chetra, Samel, Pisoth, Piseth, Rina, N David - click to enlarge

Sunday 24 May 2015: Phnom Penh Crown Academy U-15s 0 FFC Academy 1 (U-15 Youth League).
In this morning's U-15 Youth league game at Western Stadium, the FFC recorded their first victory over Crown after ten straight defeats. The goal arrived on 33 minutes after Crown were punished for giving away possession. Former PPCFC keeper Kung Rafat kept Tong Chanmony and Mao Piseth at bay, before Piseth weaved his way past two defenders but flashed his shot across the face of the goal. Svang Samnang was down quickly to make a smart stop but had little chance with the goal just before the break. Moments later, Piseth broke clear but his cheeky lob over Rafat came back off the upright. In a stop-start second-half Piseth was again in the thick of the action but was denied with a curling free-kick, Chanmony's long range effort was pushed out and in the final minute, Piseth was deprived twice of a deserved equaliser, as FFC recorded a rare success.
Match report to follow.

PPCFC Academy vs Naga, back row, LtoR: Sovann, Sodavid, Senteang, Titchhy, Umaru, Samnang. Front Row: Muslim, Soksela, Chanchav, Baraing, Noeut - click to enlarge

Sunday 24 May 2015: Phnom Penh Crown Academy 0 Nagaworld 2 (Friendly)
In this morning's practice match at RSN, Crown threatened twice early on through Ouk Sovann, but he blasted his first drive over the bar and then sent a 25 yard free-kick inches wide of the target. Barry Lelouma rose to head Naga in front on 11 minutes and the visitors saw out the first half in control of the ball, with Keo Soksela making one excellent fingertip save in the home goal. The second half was even less inspiring though Umaru Samura sent a great opportunity past the upright, before Naga made the game safe on 90 minutes when Chhim Sambo headed in from a corner. A Sovann effort was blocked at the end as the Academy suffered their third loss to Nagaworld in as many games.
Match report to follow.

Rotin on song

PPCFC vs BBU, back row, LtoR: C Pisa, Obadin, Thierry, Sokheng, Ursaphea, Matnorotin. Front Row: Boran, Tola, Booysen, Suleiman, Koroma - click to enlarge

Saturday 23 May 2015: Phnom Penh Crown 4 BBU 2 (Friendly).
Not one of Crown's better performances but they were too strong for BBU and after leading 3-nil at the break, ran out 4-2 victors at RSN this afternoon. Sary Matnorotin netted twice on 9 minutes, finishing off a Santie Koroma pass at the 2nd attempt, and again on 36 minutes. His second goal was a neat first-time finish inside the post following more excellent work from Koroma, who celebrated his 19th birthday yesterday. Sandwiched in between was a well-struck penalty kick by Bin Thierry, on 15 minutes after Shane Booysen had been hauled down by keeper Sos Proshim, as he followed up a Matnorotin shot that was saved. Two goals in six minutes, on 62 and 67 minutes, gave BBU a sniff of a result that was extinguished as Booysen raced onto Matnorotin's pass, rounded the keeper and rolled the ball home on 71 minutes. Game over.
Full match report to follow.

Shoe-horning into 3 months

Sabay have today announced that the Metfone C-League, which was postponed by the FFC until 1 July, will now cram all of its games into a 15-week window between 1 July and 11 October. With the re-introduction of the dreaded play-offs (they used the more genuine first past the post last season), that means all 22 league games for each club will be shoe-horned into twelve weeks of competition (necessitating both weekend and midweek matches for all, every week) and the play-offs will be held in a 3-week period to round it all off. There will be home & away for some clubs, the others without their own stadiums, will play all their matches on the new artificial surface at the Olympic Stadium. The 12-team league is being continued with CMAC likely to fill the slot vacated by Albirex's closure. The reason for this ultra-short 3-month season is that the Federation wish to hold some end of year tournaments, according to Sabay. Oh, and another spanner in the works is the World Cup. During this shortest-ever season on record, will be 3 World Cup matches; in early September Cambodia will play Japan and Syria and immediately after the play-off final, they meet Singapore. So there will be a club-v-country conundrum if top players are taken away from their clubs for training camps and forced to miss league matches. And just to add another spanner, the AFC Cup qualifiers will be held in August and Cambodia will have 1 team in that. With such a schedule, that won't allow any player time to recover from injuries or fatigue. A punishing program in anyone's book. On the bright side, for the fans there will be an abundance of football over the next few months, with many of the games being televised too.

Two more games, two more wins

PPCFC Academy vs C/Tiger, back row, LtoR: Sovann, Sodavid, Soksela, Chanpolin, Titchhy, Thomas. Front: Muslim, Piphop, Suleiman, Ponvuthy, Baraing - click to enlarge

Sunday 17 May 2015: Phnom Penh Crown Academy 3 Cambodian Tiger 2 (Friendly).
The senior Academy line-up were too strong for Cambodian Tiger in this afternoon's friendly at RSN. A well-flighted trademark Ouk Sovann free-kick punished the visitors on 10 minutes and Suleiman Samura was all alone to head in Sraing Titchhy's deep free-kick after 29 minutes. Academy keeper Keo Soksela got a hand to Chan Rithy's penalty to divert it onto the crossbar, but the Tigers got a second spot-kick when Pov Ponvuthy handled and Neou Sosela rolled in the penalty two minutes before the interval. Kim Chhaya put Crown further ahead on 55 minutes, toe-poking home Sovann's pass before Sosela netted on the run six minutes later to give the game its final score of 3-2 to Crown.
Match report to follow.

PPCFC U-15s vs Navy, back row, LtoR: Samnang, Sovannaroth, Davann, Savey, Panha, N David (capt). Front: Punlork, Rina, Piseth, S David, Kakada - click to enlarge

Sunday 17 May 2015: Phnom Penh Crown Academy U-15s 5 Navy 0 (U-15 Youth League).
The young Academy team recorded their second consecutive 5-0 victory in this morning's Youth League match on the all-weather Western pitch. Mao Piseth opened the scoring with a neat finish on 3 minutes, but they had to wait until a minute before the break when Sin Kakada's left wing cross-shot sailed into the top corner. Crown continued to dominate the game after the break and within three minutes, Chriv Sokundavann lobbed the goalkeeper from 25 yards for number 3. Tong Chanmony's accurate corner was headed powerfully in by Chea Savey on 46 minutes and chances went begging before Mit Samel latched onto Chanmony's pass and scored with the final kick of the game.
Match report to follow.

Practice reversal

PPCFC vs B/Ket, back row, LtoR: Sokheng, Charly, S Pisa, Makara, C Pisa, Ary. Front Row: Da, Matnorotin, Tola, Booysen, Koroma - click to enlarge

Saturday 16 May 2015: Phnom Penh Crown 0 Boeung Ket 2 (Friendly).
Crown left their goalscoring boots in the dressing room today as they squandered a handful of chances to have won this match and allowed the visitors to score twice in five minutes at this end of this pre-season practice match at RSN Stadium. Um Tola and Santi Koroma had great first-half opportunities but failed to score, while Boeung Ket blasted a penalty over the cross-bar. After the break, Crown continued to pull the strings with Sary Matnorotin twice and Tola presented with chances which they didn't convert. Crown made six changes midway through the second half and Boeung Ket took advantage a minute later when Sok Pheng scored with their first shot on target on 77 minutes. A long ball over the top and Pheng netted his second five minutes later. Both Rafael Oliveira and Suleiman Samura went close for the home side but there was no change to the scoreline.
Match report to follow.

Yet another Academy double

PPCFC U-18s, back row, LtoR: Chanpolin, Senteang, Sodavid, Thomas, Soksela, Sovann. Front Row: Chanchav, Chansopheak, Rozak, Muslim, Phearath - click to enlarge

Sunday 10 May 2015: Phnom Penh Crown Academy U-18s 5 Svay Rieng U-19s 3 (Result).
Another exciting friendly at RSN Stadium this morning as the Crown Academy proved too strong for rivals Svay Rieng. It was end-to-end for the first-half with Yeu Muslim scoring on 9 minutes, only for SVR to level on 20 minutes. The visitors took the lead with six minutes of the half left to play before Chhuot Senteang latched onto a Jason Thomas clearance and walked the ball in on 42 minutes. Within a minute Ouk Sovann lashed home to put Crown ahead but with the final kick of the half, SVR equalised to make it 3-3 at the break. Crown controlled the game in the second-half with Sovann adding a second on 58 minutes and Muslim made sure with his 2nd goal, with ten minutes to go from Seut Baraing's pinpoint pass. As usual the two teams didn't disappoint the watching fans.
Full match report to follow. 

PPCFC U-15s, back row, LtoR: Chanmony, Davann, Chetra, Savey, Sovannaroth, Samnang. Front: Kakada, Pisoth, Rina, S David, Punlork - click to enlarge

Sunday 10 May 2015: Phnom Penh Crown Academy U-15s 7 Chraing Chamres 1 (Friendly).
Played in very hot conditions at RSN, it was the visitors who grabbed the lead on 37 minutes and held it until half-time. It was a very different story after the interval as Crown stepped up their game and Tong Chanmony blasted in an equaliser from 25-yards out on 53 minutes. A goalkeeping fumble gave a gift to Mao Piseth on 70 minutes and two goals in as many minutes from Mat Samel and Sok Panha put Crown firmly in control. Piseth headed his second on 84 minutes, outjumping the goalkeeper, and Seut Baraing netted with a powerful header on 90 minutes. Chanmony wrapped it up in injury time with an unstoppable drive that arrowed into the net.
Full match report to follow.

Crown hit 9

 PPCFC, back row, LtoR: C Pisa, Charly, Ursaphea, Obadin, Booysen, Bisan. Front Row: S Pisa, Da, Sokheng, Tola, Koroma - click to enlarge

Saturday 9 May 2014: Phnom Penh Crown 9 Army 2 (Friendly).
Scoring 7 goals without reply by the halftime break had seen Crown dominate the match from the kick-off, though the second-half saw another four goals, two by each team, to give a final scoreline at RSN of 9-2. Both teams were without their national team players but it was Crown who demonstrated greater strength in their squad and were quickly into their stride with Odion Obadin powering home a header from Shane Booysen's corner in the 4th minute. Another header from a Booysen corner, this time by Santi Koroma made it 2-nil on 13 minutes. Booysen himself added the next on 17 minutes before Um Tola poked the ball home on 23 minutes. Two goals in a minute by George Bisan and Booysen gave Crown a clear advantage and Bisan collected his second a minute before the break. 40 seconds after the restart and Booysen scored his hat-trick, with a tap-in and he rolled in another, just after the hour to make it a personal tally of 4 goals. Army netted twice, on 56 and 89 minutes, but were a well-beaten team on the day.
Match report to follow.

Naga keeper keeps them in it

PPCFC vs Naga, back row, LtoR: Makara, C Pisa, Kim, Bisan, Obadin, Ary. Front: Matnorotin, S Pisa, Suleiman, Booysen, Koroma - click to enlarge

Saturday 2 May 2014: Phnom Penh Crown 1 Nagaworld 1 (Friendly).
A 1-1 draw was the final result of this afternoon's friendly at RSN though Naga have their goalkeepers to thank for a series of outstanding saves to deny Crown a victory. It was Naga who took the lead when Barry Lelouma poked home from a corner on 19 minutes though Sary Matnorotin and Shane Booysen will wonder how they didn't score in the first of three 30-minute periods. George Bisan levelled the score with a thunderbolt of a strike from 20 yards after Booysen latched onto Jeongho Kim's pass and set up his teammate with 53 minutes on the clock. Booysen was again denied and so was Bisan and then Santi Koroma as Crown created the chances but failed to find the back of the net.
Match report to follow.