Behind the curtain

Dordoi Bishkek. Back LtoR: Baimatov, Tetteh, Murzaev, Samsaliev, Volkov, Sydykov. Front: Sharipov, Kharchenko, Kichin, Askarov, Tagoe

Kyrgyzstan is a mountainous and landlocked country in central Asia. They make them tough in the Kyrgyz Republic, as Phnom Penh Crown found out when they faced Neftchi in last season's AFC President's Cup. The country itself broke away from the former Soviet Union and declared independence on Christmas Day 1991 and was named the Kyrgyz Republic soon after. Bishkek is the capital with 1 million residents and that's where Dordoi hail from. They've been the top dogs in Kyrgyz football for the past decade, winning seven league titles as well as two AFC President's Cups and making the final on four other occasions. They are real heavyweights when it comes to this competition. Current coach Sergey Dvoryankov took charge in April 2008 and has guided the club to three President's Cup finals, though they've failed to win all three, so he is more determined than ever to make it fourth time lucky this year. He has a line-up packed with experienced professionals, with a couple of younger players thrown in for good measure. Effectively Dordoi have four foreigners in their team, though two have been in the country long enough to gain Kyrgyz citizenship. Let's take a look at their squad:

Captain Ruslan Sydykov at 33 is their oldest player and has been with the club all of his career aside from a three year stint in India. The country's footballer of the year in 2005 and 2006, he was skipper of Dordoi when they won back to back President's Cups in 2006 and 2007, and has 27 caps for the Kyrgyz national team. A year younger is fellow defender Talant Samsaliev, another who has been with Dordoi for more than a decade and served his club and country with distinction. Their number one goalkeeper is six-footer Vladislav Volkov, 31, and a Dordoi regular since his arrival from Abdish Ata-Kant in 2005. Like all of the team's homegrown players, Volkov is also a regular for the national team. Full-back Valerii Kichin is a mere pup by comparison, just 19 and a recent addition to the national team. Completing the back four is Daniel Tagoe from Ghana, one of their foreign players, who played for Berekum Arsenal in his home country and in Russia before joining Dordoi. Now 26, he was the Kyrgyz player of the year in 2009, the first foreigner to win the award in seventeen years.
Attacking midfielder David Tetteh, 26, also hails from Ghana though is now a naturalized player. He began with Cornerstones Kumasi in Ghana before a stint in Russia with Dinamo Moskva and joined Dordoi in 2008. Davron Askarov, at 24, has played with four clubs in Kyrgyz as well as a spell in France with Toulouse, and has 20 national caps to his name. Vadim Kharchenko, 27, recently switched his nationality to Russian after playing 28 times for the Kyrgyz national side. He joined Dordoi in 2006 after playing in Kazakhstan. Left winger Claude Maka Koum, 26, was born in Cameroon but is now a naturalized Kyrgyz citizen. Started out at Best Stars Limbe in Cameroon before spells in Russia and with two clubs in Moldova, FC Dacia and CF Gagauzia. Another tricky winger is Dordoi's second foreigner, Anderson de Souza, aka Dan Juan or Juan Carlos (select 1 name from three), who has played for clubs in his home country of Brazil, namely Ole Brasil and Votoraty.
Potent goalscorer with eight goals in his last two games is 22 year old national team pin-up, Mirlan Murzaev who also had experience in Russia with feeder team Locomotiv-2 Moscow and in Israel with Hapoel Petah Tikva after being named 2010 most valuable player in the AFC President's Cup with five goals, though his team lost in the final. He had already won the cup in 2007. He's also his country's leading goalscorer. Azamat Baimatov, 24, returned to Dordoi this year after spells in Latvia with FC Tranzits and Russia, while Kaiumzhan Sharipov, 20, joined from rivals Abish Ata-Kant.

A record of success

Dordoi celebrate their latest championship success

The favourites in Group B of the AFC President's Cup qualifying round that kicks-off in Phnom Penh this weekend are undoubtedly Dordoi Bishkek from Kyrgyzstan. Like their fellow countrymen from Neftchi in last season's qualifiers here in Cambodia, Dordoi will present the biggest obstacle for the other three teams in the group. They are one of the two most successful club sides in the history of the AFC President's Cup, vying with Tajikistan's Regar-Tadaz for the top honour, with Regar just shaving it in terms of cup final victories, with three wins to Dordoi's two. However, Dordoi have also reached the final on another four occasions and are a definitive powerhouse when it comes to the AFC's third tier club cup competition. The surprise is that they weren't in the competition last season after Neftchi dislodged them from their domestic championship spot for the first time in seven seasons before they came storming back last October to reclaim their rightful place at the top of Kyrgyz football, which gained independence from Russia in 1992. Their current domestic campaign, with eight teams in the national league, has just begun and Dordoi head the table with three straight wins. Like Phnom Penh Crown, they have five overseas recruits in their ranks and will have to select just two from their foreign contingent from Brazil, Cameroon and Ghana, where midfielder Daniel Tagoe originates and who played when the two teams last met in 2009, the same year he was crowned Kyrgyz player of the year.

Their AFC President's Cup wins came in 2006 and 2007, beating Mahendra Police Club in the second final, now called Nepal Police Club and who also feature in this week's Group B. In their cup final defeats, Dordoi-Dynamo as they were known then, lost three times to their rivals Regar and once, in 2010 to Yadanarbon from Myanmar. In 2005, Crown's predecessor Hello United faced Dordoi-Dynamo and came off second-best, going down 6-1 in Nepal. In 2009 PPCFC travelled to Kyrgyzstan and lost 3-1 against Dordoi on their home turf with Lappe Lappe opening the scoring for Crown after half an hour. In the starting line-up for Crown were Tieng Tiny and Chan Chaya whilst Soeng Vanthan came on as a substitute. Some of the Crown team have faced them whilst playing for other Cambodian clubs in the President's Cup. Playing for Khemara in 2006, Kouch Sokumpheak, Tieng Tiny, Chan Chaya and Chan Dara were on the wrong end of  a 3-0 defeat against Dordoi. Sokumpheak faced them again with Khemara in 2007, losing 4-0, whilst Tieng Tiny met them in 2008 with Naga, going down 2-0. That means it's about time that the Crown squad were able to celebrate a positive result against one of the very best teams at this level.