PPCFC in Singapore

The Crown team line-up for a farewell photo at the airport in Phnom Penh

We're in Singapore but the internet access at the hotel is appalling. Hence the delay in getting online and the limited time I have available. It's taken me 45 minutes just to get access to type this drivel. We flew from Phnom Penh after lunch on one of the cheap airlines. Then picked up at Changi Airport and whisked off to our hotel, the Albert Court Village Hotel where a late buffet lunch was waiting. There was little time to rest as the players and officials boarded the bus again for the 35 minute ride to the Armed Forces Stadium at Choa Chu Kang for a training session on the pitch and under floodlights. The pitch is flat, though the ground is open-sided on three sides, with a pretty imposing stand on one side. There's a large running track around the pitch. The players ended their session with some penalty kicks as the match tomorrow will go to 90 minutes, then extra time and then penalties if necessary. On our return to the hotel, and after a late dinner, the players had to formally register with the Singapore FA and each player had to undergo facial recognition from the FA official before they tootled off to bed and we continued with a manager's team meeting to iron out the finer points for tomorrow. Takahito Ota arrived as we finished, he was held up in Phnom Penh awaiting his Cambodian visa, and as we were chatting with Jean Roger Lappe Lappe, the former Crown striker who was staying in the same hotel as us with his current team, Okkthar United from Myanmar. The players will be up and out for a run at 8am tomorrow morning.
Footnote: We've just heard that Chinese Taipei will get the finals of the AFC President's Cup in September. PPCFC had indicated their interest in hosting the finals but the AFC awarded them to the former Taiwan yesterday.

Caretaker coach Bouy Dary is interviewed by local television at the airport

On the SAFFC pitch and under lights this evening

Goalkeeping coach Prak Vanny puts his 2 keepers through their paces

Tes Sophat leads the team through their step exercises

A final word for the players after their session ends from coach Bouy Dary

The main grandstand at the SAFFC ground

The Crown players take a breather under the lights. The houses on the far side sell for in excess of $1million.

Old friends, Jean Roger Lappe Lappe meets up with PPCFC coach Bouy Dary

Winning students

BBU beat Kirivong with a solitary goal from Pech Sina

Build Bright beat Kirivong 1-nil in Sunday's first Metfone C-League match but if Nelson Oladiji had his scoring boots on in the first-half, then the students would've been dead and buried well before the interval. Four times in the first half hour he had the BBU defence at sixes and sevens and four times he failed to hit the target, missing the upright by a matter of inches on all four occasions. It was frustrating to watch, let alone be in his shoes. After that, Oladiji faded from the game and following the break BBU got the upper hand and made it count. However, chances were at a premium so one goal was always enough to settle the points in BBU's favour. Two minutes after the hour mark and Pech Sina found himself in space and with time to lift his shot into the far corner past Kirivong keeper Koun Thnou from Oum Chandara's quick pass. A few minutes later Sina should've made it two but shot straight at Thnou. Kirivong perked up a little with just a few minutes to go but after Sos Nasiet fired a fizzing drive against the cross-bar it was too little too late for Kirivong.

A close up of the winning BBU line-up

Kirivong missed some sitters in the 1st half and were made to pay

In the day's second game, the Army's miserly defence kept Chhlam Samuth at bay throughout and allowed their offensive unit to net the goals in a 2-0 success, to keep the National Defense team in 4th place. Even with four regulars missing, the Army had too much for the former Navy team and took the lead nine minutes before the half-time break. The Sea Sharks keeper Sam Chamroeun flapped at a cross from Khek Khemarin and substitute Touch Sokheng had the easy task of tapping the ball home. It was a remarkable introduction by Sokheng, who'd been on the pitch for precisely 31 seconds before his golden first touch. In time added on Chin Chhoeurn looked set to add to the total but somehow blasted well over from six yards out. Army continued to dominate and Phlong Chanthou added their second goal on the hour mark, when he met Soeung Chan Vanno's precise free-kick at the near post with a powerful header. That was about the sum of the action, though a word on Sou Yaty, the Army keeper, who again looked as assured a keeper we've seen in the C-League this season. In time added on a spat at a corner saw two players booked but for Samut's Chhim Bunsan it was his 2nd yellow card in five minutes, followed by a red once the referee had realized who'd he'd booked previously, after checking with the 4th official. Talk about scatterbrained.

A confident Army line-up who went onto win 2-0

Chhlam Samuth missed the experienced Pov Samnang and went down 2-nil

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.

I'm starving

Sunday's Metfone C-League results, with match reports to follow. Can't do the reports just yet as I'm starving and need a chicken curry from Mount Everest restaurant!
BBU claimed a 1-0 win over Kirivong in the 1st match though Kirivong should've been a couple up by half-time. Pech Sina netted the only goal on 62 minutes for the students.
In the 2nd game, the Army were too good for Chhlam Samuth, the former Navy side, and came out on top 2-0. They led with a goal from Touch Sokheng after he arrived on the pitch and scored with his first touch exactly 31 seconds after entering the field. That's exactly the type of impact substitution every coach would love to see. Army scored a 2nd through Phlong Chanthou and never looked likely to succumb. They stay in 4th place behind Preah Khan on goal difference. More from both games later.

Flabbergasted

Who dreams these fixtures up? On Thursday 23 June, six days before their massively-important FIFA World Cup 1st qualifying match at home to Laos, the Cambodian national team will reportedly meet the Kien Giang provincial U-23 team. So instead of arranging a series of tough matches against worthwhile opposition in the form of neighbouring Asian countries such as Indonesia, Singapore or even Malaysia, and I mean their senior teams not their U-23 sides, the FFC have defaulted to their friends just over the border and invited a provincial team from the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang to send over an U-23 team. It doesn't really make much sense as the Vietnamese clubs are having a break right now and it would be more likely that the opponents will be Kienlongbank Kien Giang, who won the 2nd Division title last June and who are now 3rd in Division 1 of the Vietnam League (the league below the V-League). Even so, whoever it is, this really is scraping the barrel type preparation for the national team ahead of their World Cup double-header but it goes hand in hand with the simple fact that the South Korean Coach of the Cambodian team, Lee Tae-Hoon, couldn't give two hoots for the World Cup. He will tell anyone who asks him that his focus is on the SEA Games in November. Beating Laos and going onto meet China in the World Cup doesn't interest him. In fact the Laos matches are just in the way of his U-23 preparation. I really am struggling to get my head around his thinking. In my simplistic view we should be busting a gut to not only beat Laos and make a splash in the World Cup but also look to the future and build our best team ahead of the SEA Games, which is an U-23 competition. It is not for senior international sides. Whatever the focus, a game against a team from Kien Giang in full view of the Phnom Penh public, isn't something that will get mine or anyone's juices flowing. The FFC appear to have a very dismissive view of the senior Cambodian national team. It is almost like they are an irritation. Instead of focusing on World Cup qualification, their concentration instead is at U-23 level with the BIDC Cup competition being re-introduced this October, ahead of the SEA Games in Indonesia the following month. They did something very similar in 2009. Literally paying scant lip service to the senior team and instead throwing all of their eggs into the U-23 basket. How a country's football federation and national coach can treat their senior national team with such contempt is beyond me.

Back in the groove

The PKR line-up that inflicted an 8-0 drubbing on Rithysen

The second Metfone C-League match on Saturday saw Preah Khan Reach return to the form they showed in the pre-season Hun Sen Cup competition with a passing display that cut bottom club Rithysen to ribbons and could've easily moved into double figures. At the final whistle, Preah Khan won 8-0 with the goals drying up just after the hour mark. And in time added on Rithysen recorded their first shot on target when Etim Esin's drive was turned aside by a virtually redundant Ouk Mic. For PKR it was back to old ways with Khuon Laboravy netting a hat-trick and their youthful side running rings around the league's whipping boys. The Hun Sen Golden Boot winner was on target within two minutes of the first whistle today. He was unopposed as he lifted Suon Veasna's pass into the roof of the net. On 7 minutes Phany Y Ratha made his first contribution with a quick-footed low drive that eluded Oum Veasna in the Rithysen goal. PKR's Prak Mony Udom netted two goals, on 23 and 29 minutes, both times cashing in on hot knife through butter passes by the effervescent Ratha. And Laboravy made it five two minutes before the break with a simple tap-in from a Tum Saray low center. Just 41 seconds into the second half and Ratha had his second goal, another tap-in after Laboravy had sprinted to win a Veasna pass in a challenge with the goalkeeper and kept his composure to set up his teammate. Laboravy's own hat-trick goal came a minute before the hour, heading Lay Raksmey's pinpoint cross past a demoralised Veasna. The goals dried up after substitute Samoeurn Pidor slotted the ball home just seven minutes into his arrival, and five minutes after the hour mark. PKR's season might just take-off from herein onwards.

Bottom of the pile Rithysen had no answer to the passing game of PKR today

Ali has Naga on the ropes

Prek Pra's inspirational 'play anywhere' Philip Ali

Football is a funny old game. Just ask Naga Corp's coach Prak Sovannara. His team have been pulverizing all before them in the Metfone C-League in recent weeks and would've expected to do the same to lowly Prek Pra Keila today, and to return to the top of the league table. They'd scored 25 goals in their last three matches and looked unstoppable. That is until they met Prek Pra. Unstoppable force meets unmoveable object this afternoon and the latter won. Prek Pra recorded the shock result of the season so far, winning 3-2. And they had utility player Philip Ali to thank the most. He was restored to the team's attack today and it worked a treat with the Nigerian grabbing two goals and acting as his team's inspirational figure. It was all Naga from the kick-off and Kop Isa and goal-machine Julius Oiboh went close before Ali moved onto a long ball out of defence, took it around Naga keeper Phorn Ratana and wrongfooted Om Thavrak on the goal-line to give Prek Pra a shock lead on 22 minutes. He'd caught Naga asleep. Isa called Yok Ary into action and when Teab Vathanak was felled by Vy Lika it looked like Naga would get a quick leveller. Incredulously, referee Thong Chankethya pulled out a yellow card to book Vathanak for simulation. Poor decision, but perhaps justice for the many occasions Vathanak does go down easily to win a penalty. Three minutes after the half hour and Naga made it 1-1. Vathanak raced away and his cross was whacked into his own net by Sos Hanafy to the dismay of his teammates. Two more Naga chances before the break saw Vy Lika's inadvertent touch palmed away by Ary and Isa miss badly when Ary closed him down.
Torrential rain at the interval gave the teams a slippery pitch to handle and Naga got their noses in front just three minutes after the restart. Meas Channa's chip found Kop Isa all alone and he sidefooted past Ary, with the Prek Pra backline awaiting a linesman's flag that never came. Naga replaced the injured Ratana in goal with Mak Theara but he was helpless when Vy Lika rose above everyone else to head home Prek Pra's equalizer on 64 minutes. With their tails up and sensing Naga were on the ropes, Philip Ali was on the spot when Hanafy's corner was misjudged by Thavrak and the ball slipped through to the tall Nigerian who made no mistake from three yards out. You'd have though Prek Pra had won the World Cup judging by the celebrations on and off the pitch. Now 3-2 ahead, they breathed a sigh of relief when Omogba Esoh turned the ball inches wide from in front of the goal and held on for a famous, and totally unexpected victory. Even with their two national team players, Mat Hasan and Sos Souhana having anonymous games, Prek Pra had recorded their first win of the season and toppled the mighty Naga and to everyone's surprise had kept Julius Oiboh off the goalscoring sheet, after his 12 goals in his last five matches. It will be party-time in Prek Pra tonight.

It'll be party-time for Prek Pra tonight after their 3-2 win over Naga Corp

Naga will be stunned by their 3-2 defeat to lowly Prek Pra Keila this afternoon

Keeda on Scott

Former Cambodian national team coach Scott O'Donell was recently interviewed for the sports website Sports Keeda. Here is the interview:

Interview: Former coach Scott O''Donell on football in Cambodia - by Renato Andreoa

Managing the national team of Cambodia presents a unique set of challenges. For enthusiasts of the game interested in knowing about the challenges and explore about football in the small South East Asian nation of Cambodia, there is no better man to talk than Scott O’Donnell. A former footballer for Australia, O’Donnell was at the helm of the Cambodia national team for a twin span that lasted 4 years. When Sportskeeda’s Renato caught up with the former Cambodia manager, O’Donnell spoke about his past as a footballer, mainly in Singapore where he played in the first edition of the Professional Football League, and matters in Cambodia.

How do you analyse your experience in Cambodia?

It was rewarding and frustrating at the same time. I enjoyed working with the players and my coaching staff, but after the President Ravy Khek left Cambodian Football Federation (CFF), it was increasingly difficult to get the support from CFF. With very little development taking place it was always going to difficult for any coach to achieve any kind of success as the players are not taught the basics – tactical and technical aspects of the game – at a young age.

Do you rate the work of ex-President Ravy Khek as good at CFF? What are your impressions about Cambodian football directors?

Ravy has not been involved with CFF for a few years now. I have no further comment to make about CFF.

What is the atmosphere like in the Cambodian League? There are many Africans playing in Cambodia. Do you think it is positive for development of Cambodian football?

Football is by far the number one sport in Cambodia. There are many Africans playing in the local league, unfortunately the quality of these players is not great. I doubt most of them are Professional players as many are no better than the local players. So I don’t think the majority of the current crop of players are helping to develop the game in Cambodia. If the clubs were able to sign experienced, quality professional foreign players, then I think it would undoubtedly help the development of the game in Cambodia.

What are your memories from the first Singaporean Professional Football League editions in 1996 and ’97?

I played for four years in the S-League. The first year was amazing with the amount of publicity, press and TV coverage and good crowds. Those were very exciting times to be playing in Singapore. There were some very good foreign players and the atmosphere was great. Unfortunately that is no longer the case. The interest in local football has evaporated and I have to say that the quality of foreign players leaves a lot to be desired compared to 1996.

Singapore has vision and organization and Malaysia has big crowds and passion. Where did you enjoy working as player and coach the most?

Even now Malaysia is struggling with crowds. Only Selangor, Kelantan and Terengganu manage to get good crowds these days. I enjoyed playing in both Singapore and Malaysia. Both nations are very passionate about football. Obviously playing in front of big crowds in Malaysia was great from a player’s view point. I think it is very difficult at present in Singapore to compete with the likes of the EPL and UEFA Champions League. Most people prefer to watch those leagues instead of the local ones, but I think Football Association Singapore (FAS) are doing the best to try and turn things around. But for that to happen they need the support of the clubs as well.

You played in Singapore against two all-time goalscoring greats in the S-League: the Brazilian Egmar Gonçalves and the Croatian Mirko Grabovac. Which of them was the more difficult opponent?

They were both very different players, both very good. I marked some very good strikers in Australia and Malaysia too. Egmar was a very consistent player for so long for Home United FC. He was strong and had the knack of being in the right place at the right time to score so many goals. We enjoyed some good battles on the field but I think there was mutual respect between the two of us. Mirko Grabovac was a different player to Egmar. Probably technically more skillful than Egmar but not as physical or mobile, but still a very good striker.

We sincerely thank Scott O’Donnell for his valuable time and thoughts and wish him the very best of luck in his future endeavours.

The Asian travel website Travelfish, well known for dishing out useful advice has turned its attentions to football in Cambodia. Visit their website to find out more on watching football at the Olympic Stadium here.

The BIDC Cup, which aroused such passion when it was hosted at the Olympic Stadium in 2009 and won by the Cambodian U-23 team under the former coach Scott O'Donell, is heading back to Phnom Penh this coming October. Though the full details are not yet clear, six countries have been invited to participate with teams, to include Cambodia (with the Cambodia U-23s using it as a prelude to the SEA Games in November), Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, China and Thailand.

A winking tomato

The new Cambodian football jersey

The Cambodian national team took to their friendly match with Malaysia on Tuesday wearing a brand new playing strip, courtesy of the sportswear company Jako. The German-based company is the official kit supplier to a number of football teams in Europe as well as the national teams of Luxembourg, Georgia and Moldova. The new strip is a very unusual design for the Cambodian national team which in the past has followed a more conservative design. The shirt sponsors are the Phnom Penh-based Tomato Specialized Bank, who have a joint venture with the Tomato Savings Bank of Korea, and provide a logo of a smiling, winking tomato. The suggestion that the likeness is of someone very close to the national team is of course pure speculation.

A couple of other items of interest. The football federation of Cambodia are looking for a nickname for the national football team. Word is that they used to be called The Royals, but no-one knew that, so now they're looking for something more memorable. I'm sure suggestions will be forthcoming by the bucketload if they fail to beat Laos in the double-header World Cup qualifying matches coming up. Neighbours Vietnam are apparently called The Red Warriors, whilst Thailand, who have just lost coach Bryan Robson (reports that he's got his eye on the Phnom Penh Crown job are unfounded), are called The War Elephants. The Philippines are sometimes known, unflatteringly, as The Street Dogs. My take on it, forget the gimmicks, call yourselves Cambodia and be done with it. Also up for discussion is the possible formation of a second league to sit under the Metfone C-League and under the jurisdiction of the FFC. They've been trying to get this kicked-off for a while now and wrote to all the clubs at the end of last year asking for money and applications for what was going to be a reserve league. That fell by the wayside and now they're looking for any clubs but will impose limits such as all players must be under-21, no foreigners and players must not be on the books of any C-League team. They're offering promotion to the C-League as the bait but the restrictions will fall flat on their arse if a current C-League club gets relegated. I don't think they've thought it through to its logical conclusion. No surprise there then.

One-sided

The starting Crown line-up: Back Row LtoR: Njoku, Sovannrithy, Dara, Sovan, Obadin, Bunchhay. Front Row: Ota, Narith, Virak, Chaya, H Pheng

Half an hour ago Phnom Penh Crown beat the Cambodia U-19 national team 6-1 in a friendly match at the Olympic Stadium. The score was a bit one-sided but most of the goals came in the first-half when Crown fielded a pretty strong line-up. The U-19's scored first through PKR's Chea Samnang but then were made to pay for their indolence with Kingsley Njoku scoring a hat-trick, two for Hong Pheng and a 2nd half effort from Sok Pheng, during which both sides made numerous substitutions. The Crown starting line-up was: Bunchhay, Dara, Sovannrithy, Sovan, Obadin, Narith, Ota, Chata, Virak, Njoku, H Pheng. The playing substitutes, all in the 2nd half, were S Pheng, Narong, Ratana, Sophat, Sochivorn, Nwafor, Sophanal, Narith, Rathanak. The Cambodia U-19's included Preah Khan Reach's Suon Veasna, Chea Samnang, Moul Daravorn, Nen Sothearoth and Prak Mony Udom, National Police's Tith Dina and Naga's Soeung Monyroath from the start. The U-19's will be heading for Myanmar in September to take part in the nine country AFF U-19 Championships under head coach Prak Somony.

The Cambodian U-19 line-up at the start of today's game

Ominous storm clouds gathering over the Olympic Stadium

Facing the music

LtoR: Ouk Mic, Kouch Sokumpheak, Chin Chhoeurn, Chhin Sothearath, Khuon Laboravy

LtoR: Khuon Laboravy, Sun Sopanha, Sam El Nasa, Sok Rithy

LtoR: Sok Rithy, Pheak Rady, Lay Raksmey, Tieng Tiny

Before the rains arrived, the Cambodian national team lined up for the national anthem before their friendly game against the Malaysian U-23 Olympic team.

Rare success

The Cambodia starting XI: Back Row, LtoR: Mic, Sopanha, El Nasa, Raksmey, Laboravy, Rithy. Front Row: Tiny, Chhoeurn, Sothearath, Sokumpheak, Rady

All Cambodian international victories should be savoured when they come along, as they are pretty much a rarity under the current South Korean coach Lee Tae-Hoon. And they don't come any easier than the one the Cambodian national team managed against the Malaysian Olympic team this afternoon. To say that the visitors were a pale shadow of the Malaysian team that won the SEA Games two years ago and the Suzuki Cup last year is a massive understatement. This team couldn't lick their boots. Add to that a performance of some magnitude by Kouch Sokumpheak for the 80 minutes he was on the pitch and two saves by Ouk Mic that kept his team in the game, and you have the 1-0 success Cambodia recorded today in a nutshell. Forget the last 20 minutes which was a joke as the heavy rain throughout the 2nd half left the pitch under water and the players simply incapable of playing anything resembling football. There were other performances of some note, namely central defenders Sok Rithy and Tieng Tiny, until the latter blemished his copybook with a red card borne of pure stupidity, and the central midfield pairing of Chhun Sothearath and Sun Sopanha did well enough as a duo. There were some less memorable performances by Khuon Laboravy, Sam El Nasa and Chin Chhoeurn but against such poor opposition, their teammates could afford to carry them. The winning coach made half a dozen changes in the second half but how much he can take away from the game is up for debate. For the first hour, Cambodia fielded players who are essentially senior team regulars, only giving a run out to some of the newer squad members late in the game and in conditions more akin to water polo than football. All that said, a win is a win, you can only beat the team put in front of you and Malaysia will field most of their squad in the SEA Games later this year. Though it was the full Cambodian national team rather than an U-23 line-up, as a fillip ahead of the World Cup matches against Laos, it might just work, both with the team, who looked well pleased with themselves, and the fans in the stand, who were cock-a-hoop to see their team win.

The first action of any note saw Cambodia take a tenth minute lead. Laboravy fed Kouch Sokumpheak wide on the left, a pass which he controlled neatly on his thigh, shimmied his way inside the box, ghosted past two defenders and fired a low strike under the body of keeper Khairul Fahmi Che Mat. It was a gifted moment for the Phnom Penh Crown striker who is widely regarded as the country's best homegrown talent and this will only enhance that reputation. Both teams were passing their way around the pitch and a touch from Sam El Nasa put Sokumpheak inside the box once more, he left the full-back in his wake but his attempted chip-cross was blocked by Che Mat. At the other end, Sok Rithy's last-gasp saving tackle robbed Izzaq Ramlan of a good opportunity on goal. A 20-yard fizzing drive by Chhun Sothearath was held by Che Mat, though with the last kick of the first half, Cambodia's keeper-skipper Ouk Mic saved his team without knowing much about it. Zack Haikal Nor's neat cross behind the home defence looked to have found Fadhli Shas in space but his goal-bound touch hit Mic, more by luck than judgement, and referee Thong Chankethya blew for the break.

To preserve their lead, Sokumpheak was withdrawn into midfield at the start of the second half but within ten minutes Sam El Nasa was replaced and the Crown striker restored to the attack. In fact he was also making tackles in his own box and really played a mammoth game for his country today. Just after the hour Chin Chhoeurn got his head to a Pheak Rady long ball but the effort cleared the bar as both sides tried hard to press but without much success. The two team coaches began a series of substitutions, eleven in total, as the heavy rains came down, covering the surface in water and making conditions unplayable. A touch of red mist ten minutes from the end saw Tieng Tiny issued with a straight red card for a blatant push in the back of Abdul Jusoh, after the midfielder had stuck a knee in Tiny's back. No excuses, it was a stupid reaction from Tiny. The rain continued, the substitutions likewise, Cambodia were holding onto their lead but it needed a really sharp save at the foot of the post by Ouk Mic from Muslim Ahmad with three minutes to go to preserve that lead, which saw out five minutes of added on time before the whistle blew and celebrations could begin. Albeit very wet ones.
Cambodia line-up: Mic, Rady, Raksmey, Tiny, Rithy, Sopanha (Vichheka 83), Sothearath, Chhoeurn (Saray 80), Laboravy (Souhana 70 [Narong 89]), El Nasa (Mony Udom 57), Sokumpheak (Hasan 80). Subs not used: Yaty, Pancharong, Nasiet, Piseth, Oudom, Veasna, Soksana, Dina. Bookings: Sopanha, Rithy, Tiny (red card).

The Cambodian bench stand for the national anthemThe Malaysian Olympic team, is also their U-23 team

The two goalkeepers and match referee Thong Chankethya at the toss up. Ouk Mic is in blue.

B-team hit five

The squad members at Phnom Penh Crown, who've been kicking their heels on the substitutes bench in recent weeks, got an opportunity for some game time this afternoon when Crown, effectively fielding a B-team, beat Asia Euro University 5-2 at the club's Tuol Kork training headquarters. The goals came from Hong Pheng, Hong Ratana and Takahito Ota in the first half with Hong Pheng (pictured) with his second and Chim Rathanak completing the scoring for Crown. The starting line-up was: Visokra, Dara, Vanthan, Sochivorn, Sovan, Ratana, Sophat, Ota, Virak, S Pheng, H Pheng. The playing substitutes were Bunna, Obadin, Sovannrithy, Narith, Sophanal, Rathanak, Njoku, Chaya. Crown will play another friendly match this coming Wednesday, the day after the national team meet the Malaysian Olympic team, when the Cambodian U-19 team will be their opponents at a venue yet to be decided.

Bonkers

The national team, pictured this morning (courtesy FFC)

The Cambodian national team are preparing for their game against the Malaysian Olympic team (effectively their u-23 side) tomorrow afternoon, with two days of familiarization training at the national football center outside of the city. Part of their preparation was this team photo, taken at 7.30am this morning. The Cambodians have their important World Cup qualifying games against Laos coming up soon, 29 June at home to be precise, with the away leg on 3 July. The suggestion is that the South Korean coach of the national team, Lee Tae-Hoon, doesn't give two hoots about the World Cup and is focusing his efforts on the longer-term policy of getting the country's U-23 team in shipshape fashion ready for the SEA Games in November. If it's true, it's about as bonkers as they come. Someone needs to remind him and the football federation that the FIFA World Cup is as big as it gets in football terms. And if Cambodia manage to defeat Laos over the two legs, they will meet China. Has anyone at the FFC heard of China? It happens to be the biggest country in the world and matches against the Chinese are exactly what the footballing public want, not some half-arsed theory that improving our appalling SEA Games record is the main focus. In actual fact we want to do both, but the World Cup is the most pressing and beating Laos is a definite possibility, with our best eleven on the pitch. That includes our Thai-based players, who the coach has refused point-blank to consider for the two games. As I said, absolute bonkers.

Friendly encounters

With the Cambodian national team in action on Tuesday afternoon (4pm at Olympic Stadium) when they face the touring Malaysian Olympic team, there is no rest for the four Phnom Penh Crown players called into the squad. Kouch Sokumpheak, Tieng Tiny, Sun Sopanha and Phoung Narong are in. Whilst they are training with the national team, their Crown teammates will be playing a practice match against the Asia Euro University at Tuol Kork at 3pm on Monday, essentially to give a run out to the squad players who haven't featured recently. The last time Crown played this particular University team they won 10-1 with Kingsley Njoku netting five times. On Wednesday, Crown have a friendly booked against the Cambodian U-19 national team, though the venue is yet to be decided. It's important for Crown to give their squad players some game time with the trip to Singapore looming large on the 16th of this month. Crown can take a squad of sixteen players including their three foreign players for the match against the Singapore Armed Forces, one of the strongest teams in Singapore.

Bottom of the pile

Rithysen's Tam Yousos popped up with the equalizer for his team this afternoon

Today's Metfone C-League games featured the four teams in the bottom five places in the table. I was hoping for at least a few goals to write home about but we were only served up half a dozen and the matches were pretty turgid affairs. The two bottom clubs with just a point apiece before today, doubled their tally with a 1-1 draw to remain rooted to the bottom places. Prek Pra gave their noisy supporters something to cheer on 17 minutes when Sos Souhana, a recent addition to the national team squad, used his quick feet to poke a shot inside the far post before the keeper could scramble across, to open the scoring. They just about edged it and were putting on more pressure in the 2nd half but with Mat Hasan and Sen Soukey messing up a couple of guilt-edged opportunities, it was Rithysen who stole the equalizer. Seth Kamel had the presence of mind to set up full-back Tam Yousos as he arrived late in the box, and he finished with some aplomb with eight minutes to go. There was still time for Rithysen's Keo Dara and Preak Pra's Philip Ali to waste more glorious openings and set the seal on a 1-1 draw that never really ignited. It was Rithysen's second draw of the campaign and with their recent foreign additions to the team, including the busy Dennis Nwaizu in midfield, they look stronger than they did at the start of the season.

Prek Pra had to settle for a share of the spoils with a 1-1 draw

Rithysen, bolstered by 3 new foreign arrivals, drew 1-1 with Prek Pra

Sim Vutha of National Police scored their 3rd goal in a 3-1 win

The first half of the National Police versus Chhlam Samuth was so poor that the game should've been declared null and void on the pools coupon. Absolutely nothing happened apart from the kick-off and the referee's whistle to bring the half to an end. Dull as dishwater. The 2nd period brightened up when the Police scored against the run of play. On 69 minutes, Long Nasy took on two defenders in the box and got his shot away as he was falling, happy to see it nestle in the far corner when he picked himself up. A couple of minutes later the same player tore past keeper Sam Chamoeun but his goal-bound shot was hacked clear. On 74 minutes, Nasy was booked for simulation as he was blocked in the Sea Sharks' box, a decision that referee Thong Chankethya likes to give as often as he can. I can understand the need go cut out the diving crap that we see all too often but Nasy was blocked by a bodycheck and fell over. It was not simulation. If the referee had ever played the game, he would know that. Police then went further ahead, four minutes later, when Sim Vutha unselfishly laid it on a plate for Moeung Phanith to poke home. A minute later, Chhlam Samuth were back in it when Meas Sophana netted at the far post through a crowd of bodies but Police made sure of the victory when Nasy set up Sim Vutha for a simple finish on 84 minutes and a 3-1 win for the long arm of the law.

The National Police line-up who went onto win 3-1

Chhlam Samuth looked good for a point until Police stepped on the gas on the 2nd half

PKR steal it

Preah Khan Reach rode their luck to beat BBU 2-1

Okay let's play catch-up on the Metfone C-League results this weekend. The main one to concern yourself with was Phnom Penh Crown's 1-0 victory over the National Defense Ministry (the Army to you and me). Kouch Sokumpheak got the breakthrough goal eight minutes from time. The goal and the 3 points put Crown back on top of the pile, ahead of Naga by 1 point. There was a heap of moaning and groaning by the Army bench at the final whistle but I still don't know what they were complaining about. They rarely ventured past the half-way line in the 2nd half and so whilst it took its time in coming, the winner was fully justified. In Saturday's other game, Preah Khan Reach stole it at the death when the smallest player on the park, sub Chea Samnang was left unmarked at a corner to steer his header past Hem Simay. There was just three minutes to go. BBU were gutted, whilst PKR were happy with their good fortune. PKR began the game brightly enough but faded. Khuon Laboravy was in the thick of it as usual but he seemed as though he had his mind on other things and wasn't at his sharpest. Twice he fluffed easy opportunities from close in that he would normally gobble up for breakfast. However, he did set up PKR's opening goal on 14 minutes when Tum Saray slid him in and Laboravy's fizz across the face of goal was turned into his own net by Nhim Sovannara under pressure from Sam El Nasa. BBU stayed in the hunt and equalized a minute before the break. Cheav Sopheak's floated free-kick to the far post was headed back across by Pech Sina and the ball dropped over Ouk Mic and into the far corner for 1-1. There wasn't much between the two teams in the 2nd period though PKR's Suon Veasna was a mite unlucky to have a goal ruled out for accidental handball just before he stroked it home. Then Chea Samnang popped up with his matchwinning header from close range just three minutes from the end for PKR to grab a 2-1 win. they moved up to 4th spot with BBU languishing in 7th. Both teams are still a shadow of the sides that did so well in the pre-season Hun Sen Cup. Another possible reason for their failure to test the top teams is their lack of foreign talent in their line-ups, having chosen to go for Khmer players only this season.

BBU will be gutted to lose against PKR

The two teams take to the field on Saturday

Sokumpheak wins it for Crown

Crown's matchwinner, Kouch Sokumpheak, rests his weary bones

I had a music gig last night so I had to wait until this morning to give my views on Phnom Penh Crown's victory over the Army yesterday. Not pretty, certainly not a game to go down in the annals of history as a classic, but eventually effective after changing the formation and getting the result, 1-0, that Crown's offensive intent deserved. And yet another clean sheet, their fifth in 7 league games. After the match, Crown's caretaker coach Bouy Dary declared himself satisfied with the result, but not with the performance. "I tried a 4-4-3 formation in the first half but there was not enough movement or support, so I changed it to 4-4-2 in the second half and we played much better. I also made some changes amongst the players as I wanted to use my fast wingers and the result was we played better and we got the result we wanted." Crown now have an 11-day break (except the national team players who play a meaningless friendly on Tuesday) until they travel to Singapore to play SAFFC in the RHB Singapore Cup on 16 June.

With their concentration distracted by the midweek departure of head coach Bojan Hodak to China, Crown needed to focus on the job in hand and needed a win to leapfrog back over Naga Corp into the top spot in the Metfone C-League table. And Army are no pushovers, sitting in 3rd place. Caretaker Dary rested Chan Dara and Kenny Nwafor and brought back the three players suspended for the Kirivong clash last week, and included Sun Sovannrithy at right-back. As Bouy Dary indicated, Crown will not be happy with their first-half performance. They failed to pose enough goal threat during the opening period and creativity was at a premium. The Army had to replace their goalkeeper after 20 minutes when Oum Vichet's brave dive at the feet of Odion Obadin left him with a cut hand. Sou Yaty took over. Six minutes from the break, Yaty was well-placed to collect a powerful 25-yard shot from San Narith but that was about the sum of Crown's offensive intent as the first-half petered out. In the final moments of the half though, the Army looked to have taken the lead. A point blank header by Oum Kumpheak from a corner looked destined for the net until Crown keeper Peng Bunchhay reacted with lightning reflexes to fingertip the ball over the crossbar. Bunchhay has been in excellent form in recent weeks, which makes his absence from the national team squad even more puzzling.

Crown began the second-half in a much more determined mood and took the game to the Army, camping in their half for most of the next 45 minutes. A free-kick from Sun Sopanha sailed just over the cross-bar, as did another 25-yard effort from San Narith. Kouch Sokumpheak combined well with Chan Chaya but the latter ballooned his drive well over from the edge of the area. Changes to their formation and personnel began to bring Crown some success on the flanks and one of the substitutes, Suong Virak, poked his shot wide as he was challenged by Sou Yaty, after Sokumheak put him in. The winning goal finally arrived with eight minutes remaining on the clock. Chan Chaya rode his luck on one of his signature mazy runs, got a fortunate break off an Army defender and laid the ball into the path of Kouch Sokumpheak, who picked his spot from six yards out. It was no more than Crown deserved but it had taken its time in coming. That was it as far as goalmouth action was concerned, Crown collected the three points without ever reaching top gear and return to the top of the C-League table. A booking for Hong Ratana will see him miss the next league game against Naga Corp on Monday 20 June - a mouth-watering prospect for all football fans, coming just 4 days after Crown's Singapore Cup match.
Crown line-up: Bunchhay, Sovannrithy, Sothearith (Dara 72), Tiny, Obadin, Narong (Ratana 65), Narith, Sopanha, Chaya, Sokumpheak, Njoku (Virak 55). Subs not used: Visokra, Vanthan, Nwafor, Sophanal, Sophat, Sochivorn, H Pheng, S Pheng. Bookings: Sovannrithy, Ratana.

Crown v Army. Back Row LtoR: Narong, Sovannrithy, Obadin, Tiny, Njoku, Bunchhay. Front Row: Narith, Sopanha, Sokumpheak, Chaya, SothearithThe Phnom Penh Crown bench just before the start. Caretaker coach Bouy Dary is on the far left.
The Crown huddle before the game begins
The Army team line-up for a pre-match photo

Thul Sothearith leads out the Crown team in red & black

Everyone tries to ignore Peng Bunchhay's tunnel jumps

Crown edge back to top

Phnom Penh Crown went back to the top of the Metfone C-League this afternoon with a 1-0 victory over 3rd-placed National Defense, but they had to eke out the win and the match will certainly not go down as one of the classic encounters. The all important winning goal came courtesy of Kouch Sokumpheak just eight minutes from time, when he had all the time in the world to turn a short pass from Chan Chaya past his former national teammate Sou Yaty in the Army goal. It was just about merited as Crown had provided all the attacking intent in the 2nd half as Army sat back and looked for a share of the spoils. Sokumpheak had other ideas. The win takes Crown back to the top of the C-League table ahead of their mini-break for the Singapore Cup. They are 1 point ahead of Naga Corp who they meet in a mouth-watering clash on Monday 20 June, two days after their return from Singapore. In the first game of the afternoon, Preah Khan Reach were fortunate to inflict a 2-1 defeat on BBU, with the winning goal coming from a Chea Samnang header just 3 minutes from the end. A draw would've been a fair result after Nhim Sovannara gifted PKR an own goal early on with Pech Sina equalizing just before the interval. More from both games later.

Missing a trick

The Crown Academy boys who didn't get invited to Malaysia

The Cambodian Under-13 national team are currently playing in the AFC U-13 Festival of Football SEAsia Region in Sabah, Malaysia. There are no Phnom Penh Crown players in the squad, even though Crown searched the whole country at the end of last year, holding trials with the local authorities in each area to find the absolute cream of the country's talented youngsters in that age range, in order to set up their Elite Academy, which began life a few months ago. No other club has ever undergone such a comprehensive search for the players of the future. Since the Academy began - it holds 22 boys in residential halls at the club's Tuol Kork training headquarters where they receive professional coaching each morning and attend private school in the afternoons - I've seen the team play on numerous occasions and its abundantly clear that they are revelling in their new surroundings, and playing a passing game of football that most senior teams would do well to emulate. So why aren't any of the boys included in the U-13 national team that is representing the country in Malaysia. That question of course should be answered by the coaches who selected the team that is in Malaysia right now. They decided not to pick any Crown players and the national team will suffer immeasurably as a consequence. Let's hope they do well but they are playing without the country's best talent. It seems to be a common thread weaving through the national team selection process at the moment, with the senior team also deciding to do without the services of some of the nation's high profile players. In the meantime, the Crown Academy won the recent ISF Boys championship and will be heading to Singapore later this month to join in the Singapore Soccer Sixes competition as well as crossing the border into Vietnam for a series of games in Saigon.

A quick chat

Bouy Dary, the man in temporary charge of Phnom Penh Crown (Pic: www.the-afc.com)

I paid a visit to the Phnom Penh Crown office this morning for a chat with caretaker coach Bouy Dary before he takes training with the first-team this afternoon. Dary is already in charge of the club's residential 22-strong Elite Academy and with the departure of Bojan Hodak, the club's head coach yesterday, responsibility for the first-team now also falls upon his relatively young shoulders. Dary is 27 years old. The former Cambodian national team player, who gave up playing in order to concentrate on coaching a few of years ago and who previously assisted national team coaches Scott O'Donell and Prak Sovannara, is not looking to take on the job full-time he assured me. He's more than happy coaching and shaping the future development of the club's youth program for the time being, but also understands the need to take over the reins of the first-team until the club appoint a replacement head coach. That replacement is likely to be a foreign coach, though it's much too early to be able to say who and where the replacement will come from. All in good time. The departure of Hodak to the best club in China, came unexpectedly so Crown will take time to ensure the next appointment is in keeping with their master-plan to push Cambodian club football to a new level of professionalism in a structured way that will be a blueprint for other clubs to follow. Dary confided that he doesn't intend to make any sweeping changes to the playing staff. He believes he has the best homegrown players in the league at his disposal and that the direction they have taken under Hodak was the right direction, and in the right way. Effectively, it will be business as usual. The first challenge will be the C-League game against the Army at Olympic Stadium tomorrow afternoon with the caretaker coach having a fully fit and available squad to choose from.
If you think the job of the head coach is concentrated solely on the training field and on match-days, then think again. Dary was at the office to supervise the paperwork for the forthcoming first-team trip to Singapore for the RHB Singapore Cup, that included sticking portraits of each player onto competition entry forms, as well as organizing travel arrangements for half of his Academy boys who will also be travelling to Singapore in a couple of weeks time for a six-a-side tournament. The other half of the Academy will then head to Vietnam for a series of matches too. There was also the little matter of arranging some friendly matches next week to give a run-out to some of the players who haven't played in recent weeks. These were just a few items on a long list he was working through before thinking about this afternoon's training session with the first-team squad. We also discussed the possibility of staging the AFC President's Cup finals here in Cambodia. Not such a daunting prospect now after the successful staging of the qualifying group round last week. But that's another story altogether. For the moment, Dary is concentrating on the first-team and their match against the Army tomorrow, and of course his Academy boys, who I know think the world of their coach.

A new sign adorns the club office on St 200, where you can buy your Crown souvenirs including shirts, scarves and pennants from the office manager Chhi

The PPCFC logo adorns the new sign at the club office on Street 200

Bojan off to China

Sniff, sniff...one for the scrapbook. Bojan (in red) is off to China.

The worst news possible has happened. Well, for Phnom Penh Crown anyway. Not for Bojan Hodak, their head coach, who this morning is flying to China to become the assistant coach at the Chinese Super League champions, Shandong Luneng FC. It's a fabulous move for him, Shandong are one of the very best clubs in Asia and he'll be working with his former Croatian coach at NK Hrvatski Dragovaljac, Rajko Magic, so they know each other very well already. Bojan took over at Crown in November and in the 14 matches under his control, Crown won ten, drew two and lost two. He's been great to work with and made himself available at the drop of a hat to me and everyone else, his rapport with the players was excellent, so much so that some of them cried when he informed them of his decision yesterday. He had a story for every occasion and I'm sure his new adventures in China will bring him many more. I certainly hope our paths will cross again in the future.
I had a chat with him last night and this is what he had to say. "I have to think of my future and the money is a big factor as well. Shandong are one of the biggest clubs in the region, every year they play in the AFC Champions League and from there I can go to any Asian club in the future. From Cambodia it's not so easy as Cambodian football is not yet recognised enough. I'll be linking up with Rajko Magic, who was my coach in Croatia some 15 years ago. He's also a lecturer at the Croatian coaching academy so I know him very well. He asked me to join him as he's been following my work over the last few years." Bojan informed the Crown squad yesterday morning. "The players were surprised and there were some tears, though I won't mention any names," he said with his usual dry smile. Looking back over the past 7 months since he joined Crown, he had this to say. "The beginning was hard as there were many things to change, which we needed to do properly. Then we had the Hun Sen Cup and those bloody penalties. It was the wrong match at the wrong time, especially as we'd already played BBU four times in friendlies without a problem. It was just one of those days. Also my national team players were not right. They came back from national team duty completely unfit, tired and playing poorly. Now, the players are much more disciplined, professional and responsible than when I arrived. We saw that in the recent President's Cup matches. Both on and off the pitch they have improved a lot and that is something I'm very pleased with."
As for this morning, Bojan will fly out to Jinan, the capital of Shandong province on the east coast of China (home to 6 million people and the Great Wall of China), with his wife and son to begin their new adventures. For Crown, the immediate task is to regroup ahead of Saturday's important C-League game against the Army and the Academy head coach Bouy Dary will take charge of team affairs in a caretaker capacity until a decision is made on Bojan's permanent replacement.

Naga knock in 7

Naga Corp moved effortlessly to the top of the Metfone C-League table this afternoon with another serious thumping, this time they applied it to Kirivong Sok Sen Chey, winning 7-2 and stamped their authority by spreading the goals around between hotshot Julius Oiboh with two (to take his tally to 12 goals in 5 games), Meas Channa with a brace, and a goal apiece for Chhim Sambo, Teab Vathanak and Chin Chom. Kirivong replied through Bryan Edem and Nelson Oladiji. It's all building up to a massive crunch game between Naga and the team they knocked off the top of the perch today, Phnom Penh Crown, when the two teams meet in a re-scheduled league game (because of Crown's involvement in the Singapore Cup), and a rare Monday afternoon fixture, on 20 June at Olympic Stadium at 3pm. Crown face the 3rd-placed team National Defense Ministry in another eagerly-awaited clash on Saturday 4 June at 4pm. A win would take them back to the top.

National team shenanigans

I've almost given up on the Cambodia national team whilst Lee Tae-Hoon remains in charge. Not quite, but the more I hear the more I am very concerned that the national team is stumbling backwards rather than inching forwards under the South Korean. Word coming out of the national team camp is that any Thai-based players will not be considered for the forthcoming U-23 friendly against the Malaysian Olympic squad on Tuesday 7 June and will also be ignored for the ultra-important FIFA World Cup qualifying games, home and away, against Laos at the end of the month and start of July. I'm informed that the coach is not looking at the Laos matches as the most important of the year, instead he's looking at the SEA Games (at U-23 level) in November as the highlight of his 2011, and before that another BIDC Cup tournament is also planned. I agree with looking forwards and building for the future, but we have a real opportunity to beat Laos with our strongest side on the field and that would then pitch us against the might of China. Surely that is enough to warrant busting a gut to beat Laos. It appears not for Lee Tae-Hoon. Either he's lost touch with reality or I'm missing the big picture. He's already failed to advance in the AFF Suzuki Cup and AFC Challenge Cup during his tenure to-date and a loss over the two games against Laos would be disastrous in my opinion. However, it seems that view is not shared by the football federation of Cambodia, who appear happy for the South Korean coach to remain at the helm, steering the Cambodian ship into anonymity and tumbling down the pecking order of World and Asian rankings. The enforced absence of players like Khim Borey, currently playing at the highest level of any Cambodian footballer, with Sisaket in the Thai Premier, and Keo Sokngorn is quite simply, a ridiculous decision. I've also heard unsubstantiated rumours that he intends to convert one of the C-League's mercurial wingers into a centre-half, whilst pitching a bunch of young and untested players from some of the lesser teams into the fray, having called them into his training squad since the middle of May. The winger in question is In Vichheka of Kirivong, who on his day can be a matchwinner with his neat footwork and cool finishing, but to ask him to play in defence with his questionable work ethic - I just don't see it. Some of the other new faces who've been under the influence of Lee Tae-Hoon's training regime in the last few weeks include Prek Pra's Mat Hasan and Sos Souhana, Naga's volatile Tiet Chandarasokha, a bunch of players from Preah Khan Reach, obviously, including Moul Daravorn and Tum Saray, as well as Tith Dina from the National Police, Kirivong's Sos Nasiet, Army's Soeung Chan Vann0 and the military's number 2 keeper Oum Vichet. Fortunately the Phnom Penh Crown squad have been otherwise engaged with the AFC President's Cup and have missed out on all of the fun of the coach's training sessions. The national team will return to training camp at the National Football Center from 20 June pending their opening World Cup qualifier against Laos at the Olympic Stadium on 29 June, though with two Crown games scheduled during that period (on 20 and 25 June), I'm not sure that the Crown boys in the squad will be spotted in camp that much. They then head to Vientiane in Laos on 1 July ahead of their second leg on 3 July and back the next day, ready for the resumption of the C-League programme on Saturday 9 July. The four Crown players who've been invited to join the national team camp are Kouch Sokumpheak, Tieng Tiny, Sun Sopanha and Phoung Narong. Others are conspicuous by their absence. Let's just say I'm not expecting too much from the Cambodian national team in 2011.