Academy fail

PPCFC line-up (pictured above), back row, LtoR: Laiheang, Chamroeun, Samel, Pisoth, Darapich, Navin. Front: Vutha, Ladin, Phanny, Sokly, David.

Result: PPCFC Academy 4 Smart Kid 5 (RSN Youth Cup Elite U-16).
In the opening game of the new RSN Youth Cup, Smart Kid sprang a big surprise beating the Crown Academy U-15s at RSN Stadium this morning, especially as they were 3-1 behind at half-time. Crown led through Chon Chamroeun and 2 goals from Met Samel, the first a penalty after he was tripped. Smart Kid never gave up and scored 3 quick goals, as both sides had a player red carded. Samel scored his hat-trick goal to level it at 4-each but a breakaway goal late on gave Smart Kid the victory.

Defeat to B-Ket

PPCFC line-up (pictured above), back row, LtoR: Aymard, Pissa, Chanchav, Kakada, Chanvuthy, Boris. Front Row: Muslim, Baraing, Piseth, Noeut, Ponvuthy.

Match Report: PPCFC 0 Boeungket 3 (Friendly).
Despite a hard-working performance from the Crown youngsters, it was the foreign influence that won the day for the visitors. Crown dominated possession in the opening half, and struck the post early on through Sin Kakada. Japanese striker Tomoki tapped-in the opening goal on 11 minutes after Gbenga avoided four challenges to set him up. The home team went close through Choun Chanchav, Yeu Muslim and Kok Boris but were a goal behind at the break.
Pov Ponvuthy went close twice in the early stages of the second-half including a bobbling effort that rebounded off the foot of the upright. A quick break gave Bata another tap-in goal from Tomoki's pass on 68 minutes for the visitors, and the same player netted a second within a minute. Sothearath's shot took a heavy deflection off Bata's outstretched foot and left keeper Svang Samnang scrambling across his goal in vain. Late on efforts from Ouk Sovann, Chanchav and Somkiat Kunmee were thwarted by Boeungket stopper Makara as the visitors saw out the game.
PPCFC select the following starting XI:
Chanvuthy, Noeut, Baraing, Boris, Aymard, Pissa, Chanchav, Muslim, Ponvuthy, Kakada, Piseth.
Substitutes: Samnang, Safy, Sovann, Pisa, Rozak, Piphop, Sakrovy, Somkiat, Booysen.
Injured: Chanpolin, Sokngon, Titchhy, Chhaya, Chandara, Chansopheak.
Unavailable: Soksela, Thierry, Sodavid, Sokpheng.

New faces from Roi Et

PPCFC welcomed a delegation from Roi Et United, a Thailand League Division 2 club to RSN Stadium this evening, including experienced coach Somchart Yimsiri, who will take charge of the Crown Academy, having previously been head coach at Sisaket and with the Thai U-17 team that were 1998 AFC U-17 Champions, before many years at Roi Et. Also joining Crown as a player and seeking to make an impression over the next few weeks is 18-year-old striker Somkiat Kunmee, who was an Academy player with Muangthong United, spent a year with Leicester City's Academy before joining Roi Et, and has appeared for the Thailand U-16 and U-19 national teams. They are pictured on either side of Crown president Rithy Samnang in the group picture.

Q&A with Shane Booysen:

We ask our South African ball wizard the top 5 questions sent in by fans and as an added bonus we get to hear his fabulous singing voice. Thanks to all the fans who sent in their questions, and a big thanks to Shane for taking part.
https://youtu.be/eI_sGs9WHKo

Friendly results/fixtures

This coming Saturday, PPCFC will play our 6th pre-season friendly against National Police at RSN Stadium (3.30pm). Our friendly results and future pre-season fixtures are:
29 Oct vs Boeungket @ RSN Won 1-0 - Kakada
5 Nov vs PKR Svay Rieng Away Lost 0-1
7 Nov vs Cambodia NT @ RSN Lost 1-3 - Rozak
12 Nov vs Western @ RSN Won 3-2 - Sovann, Boris, Muslim
19 Nov vs Nagaworld @ RSN Lost 0-2
26 Nov vs National Police @ RSN Training Pitch 3.30pm
18 Dec vs Guangxi Longguida (China) Away 10.30am
20 Dec vs Army Utd (Thailand) Away 3pm
22 Dec vs Nam Dinh (Vietnam) Away 10.30am. 

RSN Youth Cup kicks off

RSN Stadium was a hive of activity this afternoon with the opening day of the community-based RSN Youth Cup, which began with a friendly tournament involving 90 ten-minute games across the various age levels. Next week the real competition begins with the following categories: U-10, U-12, U-14, U-16 (including an elite group of invited teams) for boys and an open-age girls group. Here are a few pictures from today's events, which gave the competition a fabulous opening day with involvement from hundreds of youngsters. It was great to see the enjoyment, commitment and fair play from all the teams and we look forward to the next five weeks of competitive football at RSN Stadium each weekend.

Friendly defeat

PPCFC line-up (above), back row, LtoR: Samnang, Chandara, Pisa, Pissa, Boris. Front: Rozak, Ponvuthy, Piphop, Muslim, Noeut, Baraing.

Match Report: PPCFC 0 Nagaworld 2 (Friendly).
In Saturday's pre-season friendly at RSN Stadium, Crown shaded the first-half and went closest through two Yeu Muslim efforts. Eight minutes after the break, Srin gave Naga the lead, sweeping his shot inside the near post. Sin Kakada posed a threat with his long-range shooting but couldn't find the target before Naga made the game safe on 77 minutes from the penalty spot. Virak was harshly adjudged to have been fouled by keeper Kung Chanvuthy and Borey netted from the spot. Borey was one of 9 ex-Crown players in visitor's colours. Mao Piseth blazed a good opportunity high and wide as the match fizzled out in Naga's favour.
Line-up: Samnang, Noeut, Baraing, Boris, Chandara, Pissa, Pisa, Piphop, Rozak, Ponvuthy, Muslim.
Substitutes: Chanvuthy, Aymard, Safy, Chansopheak, Sovann, Titchhy, Chanchav, Chhaya, Kakada, Sakrovy, Piseth.
Injured: Chanpolin, Sokngon, Booysen.

Incoming faces or not

As part of their pre-season preparation, PPCFC are looking at a number of options for foreign players for the 2017 season. Anthony Aymard (France) and Shane Booysen (South Africa) are already contracted for the new season. Crown will be looking at a number of new faces over the next few weeks, and at today's training session we welcomed three South Korean players who have just arrived in Cambodia. They are Park Ji Han, Jeong Hee Jong and An Sang Min. At this stage the players who join our training sessions, including these players, are not signed by the club, and are on try-out as well as using the sessions to improve their own fitness. We will of course let you know when PPCFC agrees contracts with any new foreign players.

Pretty faces

The PPCFC trio of head coach Oleg with Shane and Boris were happy to take time off from their pre-season training to lend their support to the 41 delegates of the Miss Tourism Metropolitan International 2016 earlier today, ahead of the world final which will take place on Friday evening at Nagaworld. We wish all the delegates success on Friday, including Cambodia's own Hang Manita. This was one of the more enjoyable sessions during the otherwise tough pre-season schedule for our trio from Crown.

China fixtures

PPCFC's matches in the China-Asean Cities Invitation Tournament (CACF) in Nanning, southern China next month, have been announced. Crown will kick-off the tournament against the home team, Guangxi Longguida, at 10.30am on Sunday 18 Dec at the Gangxi Sports Centre Stadium. Two days later (Tues 20 Dec) they will meet Thailand's Army United at 3pm at the same stadium. The final game for PPCFC in this 4-team competition will be on Thurs 22 Dec against Nam Dinh from Vietnam with a 10.30am kick-off. The tournament winners will be determined by most points won.

Oleg gets top job

Oleg (right) and VP Tommy Lim

Ukrainian-born coach Oleg Starynskyi has today signed a contract for the forthcoming season as the Head Coach of Phnom Penh Crown. He replaces Sam Schweingruber, who guided the club to two Cambodian League Championships, and who steps up to the role of Technical Director at RSN Stadium.
Starynskyi (30) joined Crown in February 2016 as an Academy coach after spending the last 3 and a half years in Malaysia including six months as the assistant coach of the Malaysian U-17 national team. He was born in Bila Tserkva, near the Ukraine capital of Kiev, and played youth football for FC Arsenal-Kyiv before spending five years learning the art of film directing at the Kyiv International University. That's where he began coaching and worked for the Kyiv regional federation and as a youth coach with FC Arsenal-Kyiv, before taking up a coaching post with the Goal Academy in Malaysia for three years. He's a UEFA B-license coach, with a Coerver coaching diploma.
Starynskyi coached the Crown Academy to the Smart RSN U-19 Youth Championship in June, supported Sam Schweingruber as an assistant coach of the first-team for much of last season, and did the same for the Cambodia U-19 national team in the recent AFF U-19 Youth Championships in Vietnam. Twenty-two of his U-19 Academy squad have been promoted to the Crown 1st-team this season.
Commenting on his appointment (pictured with Crown Vice-President Tommy Lim), he said: “This is an unexpected and great chance for me and this season will be a season of opportunity for everyone: starting with me as a coach. The club has given me the responsibility to lead the team and I really appreciate this. It will be a big responsibility on my shoulders, as it will for the boys who are newly-promoted to the 1st-Team. It’s a huge opportunity for them, they wouldn’t get this chance at any other club around the world, so I want them to grab it and show their passion and commitment, hard work and attitude.
I am committed to the club and the team, I try to implement attractive football, so we need to adjust our mentality to be more aggressive and take control of games. It won’t be an easy task, I don’t want to talk about winning trophies, we need to be realistic and try our very best in every game. Our team will be young so they need to take responsibility and adapt their mentality. We’ve had one month of pre-season and we will aim to be ready when we go to China and then the MCL and AFC Cup. We need to improve in all areas, especially our decision-making and I need some experienced foreign players in specific positions to help guide our younger players.”

Crown downed by NT

PPCFC line-up, back row, LtoR: Chanvuthy, Muslim, Chanchav, Chandara, Aymard, Pissa (capt). Front: Kakada, Baraing, Ponvuthy, Noeut, Rozak.

Match Report: Phnom Penh Crown 1 Cambodia National Team 3 (Friendly).
The first-half of this friendly game at RSN Stadium belonged to the NT in terms of possession and chances but it was a youthful Crown who held the goal advantage at the interval. Sin Kakada neatly sent in Sath Rozak on the right and his cool finish from a narrow angle in the 12th minute put the home side ahead. The NT kept Kung Chanvuthy busy in the Crown goal with a series of efforts, the best of the saves was a full-length dive to deny Tola's far post header. Meng and Somrach were wayward with their finishing until Crown went down to 10-men for a few minutes before the break as Anthony Aymard was red-carded for pulling back Sokpheng.
After the interval, it was pretty much one-way traffic as the NT turned on the pressure. Bin Thierry hit the foot of the post before he equalised from the penalty spot just after the hour. It was a fortunate decision for the visitors, as Suon Noeut put in a brave tackle on In Sodavid and then appeared to fall on the ball. Chea Chandara cleared a Sodavid shot from his goal-line but when he did the same after Khuon Laboravy headed on Sodavid's corner, the referee awarded a second goal to the NT on 74 minutes. Laboravy held his head in his hands after missing three chances he should have buried in the net before Hoy Phallin added a third, which the NT deserved, with a vicious drive from 22 yards that whistled past Svang Samnang in the Crown goal, with 7 minutes to go. There was still time for Laboravy to miss another guilt-edged chance as the NT coasted to a well-earned success.