On reflection

Crown line up before the kick-off last night

Whilst the result went against Phnom Penh Crown last night - they went down 4-0 to Singapore Armed Forces here in Singapore in the 1st round of the RHB Singapore Cup - and SAFFC were the better team on the night, there are some mitigating factors which throw a slightly different light on the reversal. There are no excuses when you are beaten by a better team but there are lessons to be learned for the future. SAFFC were playing AFC Champions League football last year, that is two steps above the AFC President's Cup competition that Crown recently competed in. It's effectively, Cambodia meeting Japan in an international match. That's an example of the gulf between the two clubs. It was clear on the night that SAFFC were better prepared for the match, in terms of their freshness, having not played for two weeks, and their high level experience. The average age of their starting line-up was 30 years of age, Crown's was 24. In international club football competition that is a major advantage. The SAFFC team was stuffed full of Singaporean national team players as well as 2 Croatian players - who were noticeably more accomplished than anyone else - and two naturalized foreigners at the heart of their defence. They were well drilled, very mobile, skilful on the ball and their passing was razor-sharp. They had a good day, scoring goals at crucial moments in the match, and Crown found it hard to match them. Crown missed their key defender Odion Obadin in defence, after the Nigerian wasn't granted a visa, though two players who emerged with great credit were keeper Peng Bunchhay, who was called into action a dozen times and saved a penalty, and debutant Takahito Ota, who played well in midfield displaying a good range of passes, good vision and a good engine. Crown had half a dozen presentable chances in the game, five of them in the 1st half, but couldn't break through. SAFFC were more clinical and precise in their finishing, they just shaded the attempts on goal, but found the net on three occasions before the interval. 3-0 down, the game was already in the bag for the home team. Pitching themselves against better teams will show the Crown players what standard they need to achieve to compete at this level. The finals of the AFC President's Cup will be equally competitive when they are played in Chinese Taipei in a few months time and lessons learned last night will hold Crown in good stead for that challenge that lies ahead.

Crown coach Bouy Dary faces the press after last night's defeat

Winning coach Richard Bok talks to the press

2-goal man of the match Erwan Gunawan of SAFFC

A look at the action at SAFFC's home ground

Referee Abdul Malik admires his own coin tossing ability

Crown coach Bouy Dary gives his team a pre-match prep-talk

Taka Ota and San Narith going through their pre-match routine

Crown physio Chhin Sophorn applies some strapping to Tieng Tiny before the match begins

The impressive grandstand at the home of SAFFC

Action from last night courtesy of SAFFC.com with Thul Sothearith challenging Mislav Karoglan

A photo with Singapore blogger Po Hui (left) from www.bolasepako.com

Hands up

The PPCFC starting line-up: Back Row LtoR: Narith, Ota, Sovannrithy, Tiny, Njoku, Bunchhay. Front Row: Sopanha, Virak, Sokumpheak, Chaya, Sothearith

Hands up. When you are beaten by a better team you have to admit it and tonight, Phnom Penh Crown were on the receiving end of such a result in their 4-0 defeat by the Singapore Armed Forces (SAFFC) in their first round Singapore Cup encounter. The home team, in front of a crowd of 1,312, produced an efficient hatchet job on the upstarts from Cambodia, scoring at crucial times and batting Crown into submission with neat incisive passing and clinical finishing. Crown had their opportunities but SAFFC had more and another good showing from Crown keeper Penh Bunchhay kept the scoreline down. On his debut, Takahito Ota was the pick of the outfield players for Crown, on a night where the team didn't do themselves justice. Caretaker coach Bouy Dary echoed that in his post match comments. "We lost concentration and we didn’t perform as I know we can. SAFFC are a good team but we allowed them to be, we made it look too easy for them. Fitness was a telling point and we looked tired after our glut of games recently. Now we have to start again for our important game on Monday against Naga.” The Warriors, as SAFFC are known, put out an experienced starting eleven with seven players over thirty years of age. The oldest players in the Crown team were two twenty-six year olds. On this occasion, experience won out.

The crowd included a good sized contingent from Cambodia, but it was the 8-times Singapore champions who stamped their authority on the game after a fairly even opening period. Though Crown keeper Peng Bunchhay was called upon to keep out Ivan Jerkovic’s low drive early on, it was Kouch Sokumpheak and Kingsley Njoku that very nearly unlocked the Warriors defence. Sokumpheak’s turn and low shot was held by SAFFC skipper and keeper Shahril Jantan, whilst Njoku’s diving header at the far post from San Narith’s searching cross, missed the target by a few inches. Quick feet in the penalty area by SAFFC’s Croatian striker Mislav Karoglan unnerved the Crown defence and moments later, they failed to cut out Shaiful Esah’s low center and man-of-the-match Erwan Gunawan picked his spot from the edge of the box. Eighteen minutes on the clock and the home side had their noses in front. With their next attack, they made it two. Gunawan sent over an inch perfect cross from the right flank and Indra Sahdan was equally precise with his header into the far corner on 21 minutes. Three minutes later and a neat interchange between Chan Chaya and Sokumpheak presented the latter with a glorious opportunity as he raced to the edge of the box, but his shot on the run missed the cross-bar by five yards. As the half wore on, the home team began to dominate possession and Peng Bunchhay was called upon to dive bravely at the feet of Syaiful Iskandar and then collect a low drive from Sahdan. Two attempts by Kingsley Njoku offered some resistance, the first was a looping shot after he barged his way onto a drop-kick from Bunchhay, and then moments later his powerful drive was pushed aside by keeper Jantan. As the clock ticked down for the half-time break, SAFFC were awarded a penalty by referee Abdul Malik, when Tieng Tiny was adjudged to have swiped away the feet of Mislav Karoglan. The striker put the ball on the penalty spot and quickly punted it into the net. The referee ordered a retake as he’d not blown his whistle and the second spot-kick was expertly pushed aside by Bunchhay, diving to his left. From the resultant corner, Erwan Gunawan ghosted in unmarked to head home Esah’s well-flighted center. It was a killer blow for Crown coming in the second minute of time added on and immediately after the penalty save. Heads down, the Crown players trudged back to the dressing room.

SAFFC's slick passing and neat interchanges on the edge of the Crown box were causing all sorts of problems though Bunchhay was out quickly to smother Sahdan and then acrobatically grab a lobbed shot by Raza Khalik. Substitute Fazrul Nawaz made an impression just seven minutes after his arrival on the field. He was in acres of space to tuck the ball home for goal number 4 on 67 minutes after Khalik's low cross on the run. It was all over for Crown bar the shouting. Three minutes later Kingsley Njoku took Sun Sopanha's long ball in his stride, only to see his goal-bound effort cleared off the line by Daniel Bennett to put an end to Crown's resistance. There was still time for Nawaz to miss from close range with Bunchhay breathing down his neck, as SAFFC finished the match as worthy winners. Winning coach Richard Bok commented after the game. "Going 3 goals up on the stroke of half-time really helped us. Crown gave us a good fight, certainly for the first twenty minutes, but with our two weeks' break we looked fresh and composed on the ball throughout the game."
PPCFC line-up: Bunchhay, Narith, Sovannrithy (Dara 40), Tiny, Sothearith, Sopanha (Narong 78), Ota, Chaya, Virak (Ratana 84), Sokumpheak, Njoku. Subs not used: Visokra, Dara, Nwafor, Ratana, Narong, S Pheng, H Pheng.

A dejected Crown camp immediately after the final whistle

The SAFFC starting line-up pose for the camera

The Crown bench moments before the kick-off tonight

Inside the Crown dressing room as coach Bouy Dary issues final instructions to his players

Crown head for Singapore

Phnom Penh Crown are busy with preparations for their annual jaunt to Singapore for the RHB Singapore Cup this coming Wednesday. The Crown squad - expected to be 20-strong dependent on visa negotiations - will leave around mid-day and will land in time for a practice session before a good night's sleep. The following day, they face one of Singapore's best teams, the Singapore Armed Forces (SAFFC) under the floodlights at the 10,000 capacity Choa Chu Kang Stadium, with a 7.30pm kick-off. SAFFC can boast a pretty impressive record, winning the S-League a record eight times, four of them on the trot between 2006-2009. In 2007 and 2008 they did what no other club has done, capturing the league crown as well as the Singapore Cup in two successive seasons. The good news is that they are fallible. Last season they finished in 4th place in the league and have been booted out of the Singapore Cup in the first round on the last two occasions. On the other side of the coin, they are nicely poised at the moment in 3rd place and amongst the S-League pacesetters, and have won the Singapore Cup four times. They've even played Crown before, when they were known as Phnom Penh United, with SAFFC coming out on top, 8-1. The winners of this one-off game will meet Albirex Niigata in the two-legged quarter-final in September, after they overcame Australia's South Melbourne 3-0 earlier today. There are eleven Singapore teams and five invited foreign teams in this year's 1st round of the competition. It will be Phnom Penh Crown's sixth appearance in the RHB-sponsored Singapore Cup. They lost to SAFFC 8-1 in 2006; to Sengkang Punggol 4-3 as Phnom Penh Empire in 2007; 2-0 to Young Lions in 2008; deafeated Young Lions 2-0 before losing to Bangkok Glass over two legs 5-4 in 2009; and last season losing 2-1 to Etoile.
Crown's caretaker-coach Bouy Dary, still in charge of the team following Bojan Hodak's recent exit for the Chinese Super League, has experienced the Singapore Cup with his team before. "We know that the SAFFC are a good team, with a good record and with good players. We've watched their recent games on video. They play a slower game than other countries in the region and so we'll be looking to defend well and use our quick players on the counter-attack. But we know it's going to be a really tough game." Defensively, Crown have conceded just seven goals in their last ten matches and have built their success in the Metfone C-League, which they lead, and qualification for the final stages of the AFC President's Cup on a strong backline. They will also have some insider information with two of their squad, Odion Obadin and Kingsley Njoku having played in Singapore for the last three years with Gombak United. SAFFC will rely heavily on their naturalized Singaporeans such as British-born Daniel Bennett and Bah Mamadou from Mali, and their own foreign contingent which includes two Croatians, one Japanese and one Serbian player.

Crown meet Armed Forces

The news just doesn't stop coming. With the AFC President's Cup looming large from next Saturday, Phnom Penh Crown have just found out who they will face in this season's RHB Singapore Cup competition. Invited to play in Singapore as one of five foreign teams to join the 11 Singapore League sides, Crown have been paired against one of the tougher teams in this afternoon's draw, the Singapore Armed Forces FC. The preliminary round will begin on 6 June though Crown's actual fixture date has yet to be confirmed. The match is a one-off tie. If Crown win they will move into the next round involving two legs. The finals of the competition will take place on 5 November. SAFFC have won the Singapore championship a record eight times, the last occasion in 2009, and captured the Singapore Cup on 4 occasions. Last season they finished in 4th spot in the S-League and this term, lie in 5th place. Definitely one of Singapore's very best clubs, they have appeared in the AFC Champions League in the last two seasons. Last season Crown lost 2-1 to Etoile in the competition. Etoile were later beaten by cup winners Bangkok Glass in the semi-final.
The full draw for the Singapore Cup is as follows:
Etoile FC vs Tanjong Pagar United
Gombak vs Balestier
Home United vs Woodlands Wellington
Hougang United vs Harimau Huda
South Melbourne vs Albirex Niigata
Pattaya FC vs Okkthar
Geylang United vs Tampines Rovers
SAFFC vs Phnom Penh Crown FC