Snippets of news

• A Cambodian U-12 football squad under PPCFC's Academy head coach Bouy Dary is heading for South Korea tomorrow for a youth festival. 18 players from PPCFC, Svay Rieng, Prek Kdam and Battambang. Matches will be thirty minutes and 9-a-side. Its taking place in Incheon, Korea's third largest city. Great experience for the youngsters especially as they are camping in tents with over 1,000 other boys.

• Word on the grapevine is that Phnom Penh Crown have been invited to a pre-season tournament in an Asian country that the club have never visited before. More when the tournament is confirmed.

• The Cambodia U-23s continue their build-up to the BIDC Cup in November and the SEA Games in December by playing friendlies against local opposition. And I mean very local. They beat Kirivong 5-0 last week and then drew 2-2 with their U-19 national team counterparts. They will continue on the same theme when they meet National Police tomorrow at 7.30am at the Olympic Stadium. Three PPCFC players are in the U-23 training squad: new signing Sou Yaty, Bin Thierry and Sos Suhana. Postscript: The U-23s won 4-1 against National Police. Goals by Sokngon, Chhoeun, Vathanaka, Udom.

• Balkan FC from Turkmenistan, who beat Boeung Ket 2-0 in Phnom Penh back in May during the qualifiers, have been crowned this year's AFC President's Cup champions with a 1-0 win in the final over KRL from Pakistan. The final stages were held in neutral Malaysia. Balkan topped their group in the final stage with wins over Three Star (Nepal) 6-0 and Erchim (Mongolia) 4-0 but needed a winning goal three minutes from time to beat the Pakistan champions.