Naga and Army triumph

Continuing the theme of goalscorers minus their shirt, this is Keo Vannak, who netted twice for the Army against Kirivong today

The second day of quarter-finals in the Hun Sen Cup went pretty much as expected, with Naga Corp and the Army going through to set up a Naga versus Preah Khan Reach and BBU v Army semi-finals next week. For Naga, they squeezed past a depleted National Police Commissary side who finished the game with nine men and still managed to give Naga a run for their money. There was so much going on I was running out of ink in my biro. Kop Isa gave Naga the lead just after the half-hour mark with Sophal Udom levelling in the 2nd half. The game went to extra time and Teab Vathanak ducked low to head Naga in front, with sub Chhim Sambo rounding the keeper to score in time added on, only for Ieng Tine to rattle one in to leave the final score at 3-2 in Naga's favour. By that time, the Police had Touch Pancharong and Sophal Udom sent off for kicking and standing nose to nose with the linesman, respectively. Naga deserved their win and it was good to see Sun Sovanrithy back in action as he pepped up the Naga offensive when he joined the action in the 2nd half.
In the 2nd game of the day, the Army (which is preferable to the rather long-winded Ministry of National Defense) were too strong for Kirivong, who really missed their top scorer In Vichheka, out through suspension. Keo Vannak scored two identical headers, both from Pheak Rady crosses, Plong Chanthou and Chhin Chhoeurn netting the other goals as Army strolled through a pretty dull encounter to win 4-1. Kirivong's Chhaing Sophal weaved his way through to level the scores in the 1st half though I'm sure he played last season under his Vietnamese name of Tran Cong Danh. Not sure how that works as the Hun Sen Cup is for Cambodian players only. Though we had fun and games yesterday when BBU wanted to play Srey Vesana, even though he is on the books of a Thai team this season. Presumably he was on holiday in Phnom Penh and fancied a game. If Cambodia is expected to be taken seriously amongst the football fraternity, they really need to sort themselves out and do things by the book, the international one that is, not their own in-house version. More from both games in a future post.