Back to earth

PPCFC line-up: Back LtoR: Srin, Boris, Pheng, Seiha, Thierry, Rady. Front: Seyha, Sothy, Makara, Dani, Borey (capt) - click to enlarge.

Their fine pre-season form came back down to earth with a bump this afternoon, when Phnom Penh Crown came unstuck against the Hanoi T&T U-21 team in the 2nd Pool B game of the BPTV Cup, played in Dong Xoai in Vietnam. Coach Sam Schweingruber commented; "The result looks worse than the performance and wasn't really fair to be honest. They had 4 chances and scored three excellent goals. We had 60%+ possession of the ball but we didn't create enough chances. 2nd half we were better but just couldn't find the breakthrough and they caught us again on the counter-attack." Without the injured Sos Suhana (hamstring) from the start, Crown went behind on 15 minutes and on the stroke of half-time conceded a second from a header. After the break, Hong Pheng was unlucky not to score and Pheak Rady went off with an ankle injury, before Hanoi broke away and netted a 25-yard scorcher on 78 minutes. A minute before the end of what was ultimately a disappointing day for Crown, it went from bad to worse. A hard challenge from Kok Boris was seen by the referee as too aggressive and he flashed a red card, to add to four yellow cards for Ouk Sothy, Bin Thierry, Khim Borey and Ngoy Srin. That means Boris, Sothy and Srin will miss the final group match against Preah Khan Reach on Sunday. Injuries are likely to rob Crown of Rady, Suhana, Mart Hasan (ankle) and Thourng Day (sickness) for the same game too. Just for the record, PKR hammered the Laos TV team 17-0 in the 2nd game of the afternoon.
PPCFC line-up: Seiha, Dani, Seyha (Phearun 88), Srin, Rady (Lika 59), Boris, Thierry, Makara (Dara 70), Sothy (Pisa 75), Pheng (Morslim 88), Borey. Subs not used: Chamrouen, Da, Kano, Hasan. Bookings: Sothy, Thierry, Borey, Srin; Boris (red card).