Fritz signs on with Malaysia

Fritz Schmid (right) with Bouy Dary on one of his visits to RSN Stadium

A good friend of Phnom Penh Crown head coach Sam Schweingruber, UEFA Pro Licence coach Fritz Schmid, has been appointed as the new Technical Director of the Malaysian Football Association. The 54-year-old Swiss national is on a three-year contract to assist in the development of football and oversee the progress of the national and project teams. As a coach he has more than 30 years of expertise in amateur, elite youth and professional football. In his career, he has worked for English club Spurs as well as Grasshopper Club Zurich, FC Aarau, SC Kriens, FC Zurich and most successfully with FC Basel. For the last four years he has worked as the assistant coach of the Austrian national team in addition to his tireless work for FIFA and UEFA as a coaching instructor. Fritz has been to visit Crown on a few occasions in the past, joining the squad and Academy for a series of coaching sessions and is always a welcome visitor to Cambodia. Malaysia are currently without a permanent head coach after the contract of Krishnasamy Rajagobal came to an end and are expected to announce a new foreign coach before the end of the month.

Next week Crown coach Sam Schweingruber will be heading to Jordan in the Middle East to attend the Soccerex Asian Forum, taking place on 13-14 May. The Forum, in partnership with the Asian Football Development Project, will be opened by HRH Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein and will bring together the leading figures from the world of Asian football as well as other international football experts to discuss the development of the game across Asia. Sam has been invited to attend as a speaker, with hot topics such as corporate social responsibility and women's football on the list of sessions to be covered at the event. The following week, Sam will also attend a Sports for Development Conference in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. At the same event, the AFC Dream Asia 2013 Awards will be announced. Dream Asia is the AFC’s social responsibility initiative and highlights the value of football as a tool for social change.

Senate slaughtered

PPCFC Line-up v Senate. Back Row LtoR: Pheng, Srin, Suhana, Dary, Rady, Seyha. Front: Borey, Makara, Seiha, Hasan, Da. Click to enlarge

The selection of assistant coach Bouy Dary in a deep-lying central midfield role was the surprise decision of Phnom Penh Crown head coach Sam Schweingruber for this afternoon's practice match against the Senate Secretariat at the RSN Stadium. Schweingruber was looking for his assistant to be his enforcer on the field and it turned out to be a gentle re-introduction for the former Royal Navy and national teamer as Crown ran out comfortable 9-2 victors over the C-League's new faces. Bin Thierry and Chea Dara sat out the game through injury, with long-term absentee Kouch Sokumpheak, also watching on. It was pretty much one-way traffic from the beginning with Khim Borey heading in, but flagged offside and then Leng Makara volleying one across the face of goal. On 13 minutes Sos Suhana opened the floodgates, released by Borey and guiding the ball past the onrushing goalkeeper. Four minutes later and Borey himself burst between two defenders and smashed his drive powerfully in from fifteen yards. Twenty-one minutes gone and Borey played a neat one-two with Hong Pheng, allowing the latter to find the net with a simple finish. Just after the hour the Senate team scored with their first real attack but were quickly thwarted by a second goal for Pheng, on 35 minutes, after Makara had eluded two tackles and rolled the ball into the young striker's path. His hat-trick, courtesy of quick feet from Suhana and then Borey, was another simple finish four minutes before the break.

Crown quickened up the pace for the second half and went looking for goals. Mart Hasan was denied by keeper Mak Theara, and then blazed over, as did rampaging full-back Thourng Da. On 63 minutes, Hasan got to the bye-line, and his low cross was tucked in smartly from an acute angle by Suhana. Three minutes later, it was Men Seyha's turn to tee up Suhana, and the national teamer powered a shot into the roof of the net from fifteen yards out for his hat-trick. Pheng and Seyha both went close, the former leaning back and firing over from six yards, while Seyha rode three tackles but toe-poked his effort perilously close. A fourth goal for Suhana arrived on 72 minutes after Pheng's initial shot had rebounded off the cross-bar and Makara laid the ball into the path of the attacking midfielder, who made no mistake from ten yards. Kok Boris replaced Bouy Dary before play restarted and within thirty seconds had powered his way into the box, only to send his shot a foot wide. Pheng was also looking to add to his tally, but his thrust into the box saw his strike smash against the cross-bar. Thourng Da's ankle-tap allowed Senate to score from the penalty spot but it was scant consolation for the visitors. A Boris header should've counted but the linesman failed to spot the ball had crossed the line before Theara clawed it back into play. Finally, Pheng netted his fourth, with five minutes to go, sending his drive into the top corner after a neat exchange with Kouch Dani. There was still time for Hasan to sting Theara's hands with another powerful effort. Game over and a comfortable win for Crown with Dary doing well enough to suggest an extra option in the head coach's plans for the new season. The game was the final time for Fritz Schmid to aid Schweingruber and his squad, with his two weeks of mentoring and advising coming to an end. The Austrian No 2 has enjoyed his time with the Crown team and given them much food for thought.
PPCFC line-up: Seiha, Da, Seyha (Dani 80), Srin (Lika 86), Rady, Dary (Boris 72), Hasan, Suhana, Makara, Pheng, Borey (Sothy 72). Subs not used: Ary, Chamrouen, Phearun, Pisa, Morslim, Sochetra, Kano. Bookings: None.

Happy slappy time prior to kick-off

Head coach Sam Schweingruber receives advice from Fritz Schmid (red)

A busy day for Crown

Korean All Stars line-up before this afternoon's warm-up match

A busy day for Phnom Penh Crown. First thing this morning, the Crown Academy boys beat the Army team 4-1 in a friendly match at RSN Stadium. Chhuot Senteang scored twice and a goal apiece from In Sodavid and Mat Sakrovy settled the game in Crown's favour. Mid-morning there was a team manager's meeting at the office of the football federation where playing colours, etc were agreed between Crown and the Korea All Stars Union team ahead of tomorrow's friendly match at the Olympic Stadium. There is construction work taking place at the stadium so access is limited. There were also two games being played on the pitch later today, which is far from ideal ahead of tomorrow's televised match at 3.15pm. After lunch the Korean players had a warm-up session on the RSN Stadium pitch before playing a thirty-minute practice match at jogging pace against a makeshift team of Korean expats. Late afternoon, the Crown players took to the field for their own training session and were introduced to Fritz Schmid, who'd arrived in the city earlier in the day. Fritz is mentoring Crown coach Sam Schweingruber for the next two weeks and will bring his vast experience and knowledge to Crown training sessions during that period. Fritz is the current number two with the Austrian national team, who are involved in World Cup qualification, and is a long-time FIFA instructor. To round off his first day in the country, he was attending a wedding tonight.

Fritz Schmid (right) and Bouy Dary at today's training session

Fritz Schmid offers advice to Bin Thierry

"I'm with you for the next two weeks, let's have some fun"

Fritz spoke French to Crown's trio of French-Khmers. LtoR: Dani, Boris, Thierry and Fritz

On the job mentoring

Fritz Schmid (left) with Austrian head coach Marcel Koller

Sam Schweingruber may be a FIFA coaching instructor for grassroots football, but he's not afraid to admit he's got a lot to learn as head coach of Phnom Penh Crown. Despite his involvement with Cambodian football at different levels over the past decade, the Crown job is his toughest yet and he is learning 'on the job' whilst applying the principles that have served him so well in the past six years with the SALT Academy and other roles. Giving him a helping hand is fellow Swiss national, and current assistant coach of the Austrian national team, Fritz Schmid, who will be spending a couple of weeks with Sam and the Crown club from 8 December, as part of a 1-to-1 mentoring program. Schmid is no stranger to Cambodia, having coached grassroots coaches here in his capacity as a FIFA instructor, as well as given his free time to help the SALT Academy. He has also worked in tandem with Sam at three coaching workshops in the past. Schmid, who is an expert at fitness, sports medicine and injury rehabilitation, has a coaching CV of considerable experience, having been a FIFA and UEFA instructor for more than twenty years as well a coach with top teams such as FC Basel (where they won 4 league championships and 4 cups in Switzerland), with Zurich Grasshoppers and a brief spell with Tottenham Hotspur. In addition, he's been a sports journalist, a skiing and swimming instructor and now he is number 2 to Marcel Koller with Austria fighting an uphill battle to make the World Cup finals. For Sam, learning from someone like Schmid will be invaluable as he approaches his first season as head coach of a senior team. In addition, the Crown squad will also benefit from the two-week close involvement with a senior European coach.