Sunday, July 29, 2012

Entertainment value

Preah Khan rescued the points with a great fightback to win 4-3
Goals were in plentiful supply at the Olympic Stadium this afternoon. The fans in attendance certainly cannot complain about the entertainment value of the Metfone C-League with eleven (11) goals in the two games and a cracker of a match in the early kick-off. Both National Police and Preah Khan Reach are nailed-on certainties to make the Super 4 play-offs. But they both need to improve their defensive frailties in double-quick time if they want to get their name on the C-League championship this season. The Police stormed into a two-goal lead eight minutes into the 2nd half and then promptly sat back thinking the hard work had been done. Nuth Sinoun, five minutes before the break and then Nelson Oladiji, with a downward header, gave Police the cushion against a Preah Khan side that looked out of sorts and a mere shadow of their normal selves. The tables began to turn when Phany Ratha stroked home the first for PKR on 65 minutes and in the next twenty minutes they struck four times to put the Police in a spin. It didn't help either than Police went down to ten men with San Thydeth limping off after they'd made their three substitutions. Chea Samnang's low shot will give Police keeper Thong Chanreaksmey nightmares tonight as the ball went through the stopper's hands and legs and crept over the line, with twelve minutes to go. Five minutes later, David Njoku served up one of his specials with a 25-yard screamer into the top corner before the icing on the cake with five minutes left on the clock. PKR's recent addition, Bologun Olawale, who had been missing goals for fun in his last few matches and had been benched for this game, took everyone by surprise, even himself, by whacking a 45-yard drive over a stunned Chanreaksmey's head for an absolute corker of a goal. Preah Khan then duly sat back and Police's Nov Soseila rattled them with a goal and with more purpose Police could've snatched an unlikely draw. They didn't and PKR went to the head of the league table. The second game didn't match the first for excitement but honours were shared when Chhlam Samuth equalised to make it 2-2 in the final minute. Sunday Ayodele poked home the opening goal for Chhlam Samuth before Kirivong's Ishola Abiding levelled just before the break. Three minutes after the restart, Chaing Sophal put Kirivong ahead only to see the points shared when Lawrence Mensah went down in the area and Ek Sovannara struck home from the penalty spot.
National Police were in charge and then blew it, losing 4-3

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a cracking game, PKR vs Police! The introduction of the 21 Hoy Phallin for Veasna paid instant dividends for PKR. What an exciting young player and prospect for Cambodian football he is! PKR now atop of the table and a real chance for the MCL title.

Andy Brouwer said...

Phallin certainly did the easy things in midfield that Veasna and Samnang weren't doing in the 1st half. But I thought Police simply sat back after they scored the 2nd and invited PKR to attack them (as PKR had done in the 1st half). And then PKR stopped at 4-2 and invited Police to come onto them. Strange game. The key point may be the injury to Laboravy and whether its a long-term injury or not. If he can recover then of course PKR have a chance, but so will the other 3 teams in the play-offs.

Anonymous said...

May be only both of you did not know that it was an arranged game!
I am serious Andy. Everyone at the grandstand know about this.

P.S: the foreign players also did not know. they run like hell to defend but the coach change them out to avoid breaking their plan.

Anonymous said...

You're right Andy, Laboravy is a key player for PKR. Indeed for Cambodia! Why he was/is left out of the Cambodia 30 was/is still a mystery - a long term injury would be the worst possible news for PKR, on eve of final MCL top 4 playoffs And, the fact Ravy scored 2 goals against the national squad mid-week telling!

Andy Brouwer said...

Anon 2:47PM. You suggest the game was fixed. What/where is the evidence of this? This type of accusation is easy to make, hard to prove. Whilst I agree the match was a strange one and I got frustrated with Police's refusal to throw everything including the kitchen sink at PKR in the final 5 minutes, you make a serious charge against both teams.
Before I go on, another point I didn't understand was the persistent calling over to the touchline of his players to speak to them by the Police coach whilst his team were attacking or defending. It's not something I've seen before from any team.
That said, IF, and its a big if, everyone knew that the game was fixed - except me - why the hell do you and everyone else stand for it? Why do you allow it? It makes a complete mockery of Cambodian football if its true.
Accusations have been thrown around before both in league matches but more so in international matches, and if the general public are aware of it, why are you sitting on your hands and putting up with it? If it exists, we must expose it, expose the cheats and clean up our game. I am deadly serious about this.
Andy

Anonymous said...

I agree with you Andy. If there is any match-fixing at any level it should be exposed. How could anyone in their right mind watch matches if they suspect/know they are not being played fairly. Also.what was Say Piseth thinking back-passing to his keeper with 1 minute remaining and, what were the Police players doing taking water breaks on the touchline at crucial attacking/defending times in the 2nd half? From our vantage point in the stands - PKR rallied in the 2nd half and the Police didn't know how to respond - and the PKRs no 29 scored the match-winning (goal of the season) from the centre-circle!

Andy Brouwer said...

PKR's Khuon Laboravy is having an operation on a knee cruciate ligament injury and is likely to be out of action for up to 4-6 months, which means he cannot play for the Cambodia national team even if the head coach had a change of heart! So the new coach Sochetra has been handed a get out of jail card by the serious injury sustained by Laboravy at the weekend.