Player hot-line

Baldwin Ngwa, Jeongho Kim and Rafael Oliveira celebrate our Championship success with a selfie

Phnom Penh Crown player movements: Head coach Sam Schweingruber confirmed today that two of the club's foreign players, Rafael Oliveira and Jeongho Kim, will not have their contracts renewed and are leaving the club. Sam had this to say about Brazilian midfielder Rafael; "Rafael came to us with a big reputation from his time in Vietnam. However, his spell in Cambodia was full of very bad luck. Injuries have put him out of action and when finally he was back fit, our team was on a winning streak and he didn’t manage to get enough chances to play. He deserved to be playing more as he has impressed everyone at the club with his professional attitude and good character. The rules of only allowing 3 foreigners involved in any game made it difficult for Rafael to break into the team. We wish him all the best for his future in football." Crown's head coach was equally appreciative of the part played by South Korean import Jeongho. "We are sad to say good bye to one of everyone's favorites - Jeongho. We will always remember his amazing goals he scored for us. While he always gave his best, he has failed to break into the team on a regular basis - also because of injustice when he was banned for a total of 4 games by the FFC. As a young player of his qualities, he deserves to be part of a team that he gets to play more often - of which there is no guarantee at Crown. This is why we are letting him move on. We wish him success in the future and thank him for his contribution whilst with the club." Oliveira was previously with Brazilian clubs Fluminense RJ, Atletico MG, Democrata GV, then The Cong, Navibank Saigon and Than Quang Ninh in Vietnam, before half a season back in Brazil with America FC. Kim was a top youngster with Kwangwoon University in Korea before joining Crown. Both spent a season with the Cambodian champions.

Putting pen to paper for the next two years to cap a great weekend, is Khim Borey, who got engaged on Saturday, before extending his contract today, to keep him at the club until the end of the 2016 season. Borey joined Crown at the end of 2010 before a season-long loan to Sisaket in the Thai Premier League. Last season he contributed 14 goals in league and cup matches and is widely recognised as one of the country's most talented players, so his contract extension is great news for the Crown fans. Head coach Sam Schweingruber said: "Borey's an important player on the field with his experience, good skill and some very important goals - a few were super important for our season - the late equalizer against Svay Rieng and the free kick goal vs Western. I have often played him out of his usual position - not striker but wing and he always serves the team with his best efforts. Off the field Borey is equally as important with leadership and guidance for our younger players. I am very happy he has chosen to be with us for another 2 years." Borey is one of the few (I dont know of anyone else) who has scored a hat-trick of goals for his country (when he netted 3 v Timor-Leste in 2010), yet the current Korean coach has overlooked him in recent times. His experience and versatility would get him into my squad any day.

Crown sink Naga

Khim Borey heads the game's only goal on 49 minutes

Coach Sam Schweingruber won't allow his young Phnom Penh Crown team to rest on their laurels after their 1-0 win over the vastly experienced Naga Corp this afternoon. Last season's beaten play-off finalists Naga have added even more know-how to their line-up but found Crown's youthful line-up a tough nut to crack. With just a few weeks together as a squad under their belt, Schweingruber will be pleased that his side won a tough battle against seasoned opponents in just their third outing under his control, before they head off to Vietnam for their pre-season tournament on Sunday. Practice matches like this are not necessarily good indicators for the coming season as teams try out new tactics and formations and make numerous changes in each match. Schweingruber will certainly err on the side of caution, with Naga creating nearly as many chances as his team, though it was Crown's most experienced player, Khim Borey, who was the difference, grabbing the only goal of the game four minutes into the 2nd half. For Naga, no less than 5 ex-Crown players were on the pitch at various intervals including new arrivals Tieng Tiny and Chan Dara, as well as Sun Sopanha, Sun Sovannrithy and San Narith.

The PPCFC line-up: Back Row LtoR: Borey, Pheng, Seyha, Boris, Rady, Srin. Front Row: Thierry, Makara, Da, Suhana, Seiha. Click to enlarge.

The match was played at Crown's RSN Stadium and it was Bin Thierry who offered up the first strike, playing in a central midfield role alongside fellow import Kok Boris, winning the ball off Om Thavrak and sending a low drive a foot wide after three minutes. Ngoy Srin was alert to divert a goal-bound shot from Kop Isa, before Leng Makara's header brought a diving save from Naga keeper Pich Rovinyothin. A raking cross-field pass from Khim Borey found Hong Pheng in space but his curler missed the upright by a yard. On 34 minutes, Borey raced onto a Boris through ball, headed over the stranded Rovinyothin and rolled the ball into the net. The referee initially awarded the goal, only to rule it out when he spotted the linesman's late flag. A few minutes later Thierry sent another long drive skidding wide before Boris thumped the ball from 25 yards out, only to see Rovinyothin throw himself full-length to his right to paw the ball away. Isa volleyed over the top to bring the first-half to a close.
The 2nd half opened up with Crown in control and within four minutes of the restart, Khim Borey ghosted into the six-yard box to head Bin Thierry's precise corner kick down and past an impotent Rovinyothin for the game's opening goal. Five minutes later and Borey's deft pass saw Leng Makara whip in a powerful drive which the keeper did well to block with his body and clear the danger. Twenty minutes gone and Crown conceded a free-kick just twenty yards from goal. Chuon Chum arched the ball over the wall and onto the post with Pen Stephane whacking the loose ball against the other upright as Naga came closest to scoring. With Kouch Dani probing from left-back, he tried his luck with two shots from outside the area, both going wide of the target. Srin was booked for pulling back Chhim Sambo and from the resulting free-kick, Tiny's punt was pushed over from under the bar by Yok Ary in the Crown goal. And that, in terms of chances, was it. Crown were visibly elated to have won against their much-favoured opponents and will take the positives from their battling qualities into the rest of their pre-season programme.
Crown line-up: Seiha (Ary 46 (Chamrouen 80)), Da, Seyha (Dani 62), Srin (Lika 83), Rady, Boris (Hasan 62), Thierry (Pisa 83), Suhana, Makara, Borey (Sothy 69), Pheng. Subs not used: Phearun, Kano, Dara, Morslim. Bookings: Srin.

The starting line-up for Naga Corp including ex-PPC Sopanha, Dara and Narith

Warm-ups

3 PPCFC players, Khim Borey (left), Tieng Tiny and Sos Suhana, fly out to join the main squad. Pic courtesy of Khim Borey

The Cambodian national team are in their final stretch of preparations for the AFF Suzuki Cup qualification matches which begin this Friday when they meet Timor Leste in Myanmar, one of four matches in a space of a week that will determine their immediate future, in coach Hok Sochetra's first big test of his reign. On Saturday, minus the Phnom Penh Crown trio of Khim Borey, Tieng Tiny and Sos Suhana, the Cambodian squad drew 3-3 with Courts Young Lions, the feeder team for the Singapore U-23s side. The visiting national team goals came from Prak Mony Udom, Phoung Soksana and Teab Vathanak, after the Young Lions led 2-1 at half-time. Tomorrow they will be back in Malaysia, where they've had a two-week training camp, to play a final warm-up against a Malaysian team and then they will head to Myanmar for their moment of truth. It's not clear which team the Malaysians will play, their senior side or their U-23s, as the main squad are preparing for their own Suzuki Cup involvement in November with matches against Hong Kong and Vietnam. The three Phnom Penh Crown players flew out to join the national squad at noon today, after returning in the early hours from their AFC President's Cup trip to Tajikistan. Cambodia begin their Suzuki Cup qualifiers against Timor Leste on Friday and then meet Laos (7 Oct), Brunei (9 Oct) and Myanmar (11 Oct).

An encouraging stalemate

The Phnom Penh Crown trio who started for Cambodia tonight. LtoR Tieng Tiny, Sos Suhana, Khim Borey

Hok Sochetra's Cambodian team must be congratulated for not conceding against an international opponent some 38 places above them in the FIFA world rankings. That in itself is no mean feat and add to that the fact that the Philippines have been in overseas training camp and are playing a glut of friendly matches, and Cambodia did pretty well in what was their first serious game in over a year. Admittedly, not too much was seen from Cambodia in an offensive capacity and Philippines held the upper hand for spells during tonight's match, but there wasn't too much to choose between the two teams and let's not forget that the Philippines are already through to the final stages of the AFF Suzuki Cup and are ranked the third best team in Southeast Asia, whilst Cambodia must play in the Suzuki Cup qualifiers next month. The game ended 0-0 in front of a sizeable crowd at Olympic Stadium tonight.
With a five-man midfield and Khim Borey playing in a withdrawn lone striker role, Cambodia began cautiously, inviting the opposition to break them down. Phil Younghusband shouldn't done exactly that on 13 minutes when Om Thavrak missed his clearing header and the former Chelsea-man fluffed his chance from fifteen yards out. Ten minutes later Jason Sabio headed powerfully against the crossbar from a corner but that was pretty much it as far as the Philippines had to offer in the first-half. With Cambodia relying on the counter-attack, Borey sent a slide-rule pass through to Sos Suhana on the half-hour but he was tackled as he was about to pull the trigger. Borey was booked for handball from the resulting corner. And that was it for obvious opportunities in the opening 45 minutes.
Three minutes on from the restart and Suhana repaid the compliment, sending Borey clear of the last defender but his hurried left-foot swinger went straight to keeper Neil Etheridge, a 1st-team squad regular with BPL team Fulham. On the hour, Etheridge boobed badly with a miss-kick but Suhana didn't react quickly enough and the goalkeeper recovered. Both teams made a series of substitutions but it was Cambodia's Sou Yaty who was the busiest goalkeeper, keeping out a couple of efforts and fisting away some high crosses. Pouring rain spoilt the spectacle for both players and fans for the final quarter and the last chance of note went to Philippines, when Patrick Reichelt evaded three defensive lunges but held his head as his low drive rebounded off the foot of the post to safety, with just two minutes to go.
I think Hok Sochetra will be pleased that his charges kept a clean sheet in his first game. If you don't concede, you don't lose. With Sou Yaty in good form and determined to punch any cross that came his way, the old guard of Thavrak and Tieng Tiny marshalled the center of defence and negated the threat posed by the Younghusband brothers. With five packing midfield, that left Borey with a tough solo job to do up front and he found it hard to hold onto the ball against a strong Philippines back-four. Sochetra will need to be more adventurous if he expects to progress through the qualifying games next month, but a goal-less draw with the fancied Philippines is a good start.
Cambodia line-up: Yaty, Pancharong, Vibol (S Pheng 94), Thavrak (Piseth 82), Tiny, Sothearath, Sopanha (S Udom 94), Suhana (Khemarin 94 ), Sokngorn (Saray 71), PM Udom (Vathanak 65), Borey (Chhoeun 84). Subs not used: Ratana, Vichet, Raksmey, Chum, Phearith, Veasna, Sothearoth. Bookings: Borey, Tiny.

The starting line-up for Cambodia. Back LtoR: PM Udom, Thavrak, Yaty, Sokngorn, Tiny, Sopanha (capt). Front: Vibol, Sothearath, Suhana, Pancharong, Borey. Click to enlarge.

After-match chat

Head coach David Booth at the press conference

Phnom Penh Crown's head coach David Booth spoke at the after-match press conference about his team's 8-0 success over the Bhutanese team, Yeedzin. "You don't know how it's going to go in games like this. You set up your own team and try to make sure they start properly. Our biggest problem in the last few weeks is that we've made mistakes early in the game, and it nearly happened again today. We got away with it. I think 8-0 flattered us a little bit, we were still a bit too sloppy at the back at times.
We felt that after 15-20 minutes, their back four was quite square, so we were looking to play 1-2's and round the side of them and it worked well. For this level of competition, I withdrew our two wider players. They are both quite quick. It worked for us today and it gave us a lot of chances in the first-half. I think the Bhutan team suffered with the weather today, it destroyed them really. Our players train in this heat so we are more used to it.
In the second-half, I felt the wind would hold the ball up better for us and I told the team to get the ball up to the front men, support them, more 1-2's, and play behind them as that's where the danger was. We had a lot of chances. If we'd scored more it would've been a little embarrassing.
It will be a different game on Monday against Nepal. We need to tighten up our concentration. We didn't cover each other well enough at the back. We are not the strongest team by a mile - we've got to be very careful. We've got one result, if we can get another win, somehow, whichever way we can, we'll go through. So Monday is a very important game for us. I'd rather win on Monday then need to win on Wednesday.
I don't think Emmanuel will play again in this competition. His injury is far worse than it looks. I think it's a torn calf muscle, it wasn't a kick, just a twist. Sok Pheng got injured as well; he asked to come off just before he scored his goal. He doesn't score easy goals, no tap-in's, he only scores fantastic goals. Tiny also has one or two bumps to sort out."

Hat-trick hero Khim Borey was upbeat after the final whistle. "I'm very happy and excited to score a hat-trick for my club today. It's very important for the team and for my own confidence. I felt our team understood each other, we passed well and co-operated together against the Bhutan team. 8 goals was wonderful but we wanted more. For the next match, the Nepal team is a very good team but both the team and myself will try our very best to win on Monday. We know what we have to do."

Cambodian football suffers

I really do despair at the shenanigans going on between the Army and the football federation. In itself it's a microcosm of the ills that affect everyday life throughout Cambodia. The powerful and wealthy flex their muscles (in this case the Army), the paper-pushers do what they're told (the FFC) and the small man at the foot of the chain is the one to suffer (the player). The Cambodian football federation's refusal to allow Khim Borey to play in Saturday's Hun Sen Cup match against the National Police was another kick in the teeth to a player who doesn't know whether he's coming or going. And we are talking about one of the country's very best footballers over the past four or five years. The Army have been unhappy since Borey joined Phnom Penh Crown before the start of last season. He was out of his playing contract with the Army team and as a free agent, he moved across to join Crown. The Army weren't happy and threw a spanner in the works immediately, with the FFC jumping on the bandwagon and refusing to allow him to play in last season's Hun Sen Cup competition. The problem went away for a few months as Borey, with the FFC's agreement, linked up with Thai Premier Division club Sisaket, but resurfaced when he returned to Crown at the back-end of the C-League season. He was again denied his place in the last few league matches by the FFC with no reason given. In an about face, the FFC did give their thumbs up for his inclusion in the AFC President's Cup finals in Taiwan and all seemed set for the new season. Borey took his place in the Crown line-up for their opening Hun Sen Cup tie against Kratie last week and scored. Then, on Friday, Crown received a letter from the FFC again saying Borey was ineligible, as the Army had again raised their previous objections, saying that as a member of the Army he couldn't play for anyone else. Despite a last-minute appeal, Borey's name was scrubbed from the start list. The player himself was crestfallen. He thought the kerfuffle had been resolved, only for the Army to stick their oar in again (and have now added Boeung Ket's Sin Dalin to their objection targets) and leave him high and dry.

This problem has now been on the FFC's table for a year with Army claiming he's still with them, whilst Crown have a contract with the player, having abided by FIFA rules and regulations in signing him. The FFC remain completely ineffectual, having changed their minds twice already to allow Borey to play in Taiwan and then against Kratie, before the latest ban. The Army obviously hold great sway over the FCC leadership and are prepared to do anything they can to ruin the player's career. For them, it's not about the player, but more the flexing of their muscle to show everyone who's boss when it comes to Cambodian football. As I inferred at the beginning, it clearly demonstrates that Cambodia and its football remain locked in the Stone Age, unable to shake off the shackles of its past. Basically the Army's ultimatum is this; play for us or play for no-one. Players like Borey and Dalin wish to further their football career but the Army will do everything in their power, which is considerable, to deny them their livelihood. And the federation, who should be protecting player's rights, simply look the other way. Safeguards against this restriction of livelihood need to be introduced, which could include a player's union for example, the federation need to act like a real federation and abide by the rules of FIFA over player's transfers and contracts, and the Army must decide whether they are a military unit that wears football boots or they are a separate professional football club, and if the latter, they should act like one.

Khim Borey

One of Cambodia's most outstanding strikers of his generation, Khim Borey is back in the fold and raring to go after a stint in the Thai Premier League with Sisaket for much of last season. He returned to join in the AFC President's Cup final round but has yet to make his Hun Sen Cup or C-League debut for Phnom Penh Crown after signing in November 2010. Takeo-born, he has represented his country with distinction since his debut against Syria in 2007 and netted an international hat-trick against Timor Leste in the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup. He was the C-League's Golden Boot winner in 2008.

Name: Khim Borey
Position: Forward
Squad Number: 7
Date of birth: 29 Sept 1989
Place of birth: Kouk Kanhchab, Takeo
Height: 1.71m
Weight: 60kg
Joined PPCFC: November 2010
Previous clubs: Koh Kong province, National Defense Ministry, Sisaket, Cambodia U-19, U-23 & Seniors

Itching to return

Khim Borey pictured this morning after training, with his serious face

Phnom Penh Crown striker Khim Borey is itching to get back to playing football after a stop-start season in 2011. Borey joined Crown before the season began from the Army but dithering by the FFC and his former club meant he missed last season's Hun Sen Cup matches and then went on a season long loan to Thai Premier Division newboys Sisaket, at the time under the leadership of David Booth. He returned in time to play in Crown's run to the AFC President's Cup final but wasn't allowed to appear in the club's final bunch of C-League matches. This time around, he's back and itching to improve on his outstanding record in Cambodian football (he was the top-scoring Golden Boot winner in 2008), both at club (five years with the Army) and international level.

Army under fire

Phnom Penh Crown gave themselves another tough pre-season workout this afternoon, with a practice match at their RSN Stadium against the National Defense Ministry team and ran out 4-1 winners. The Crown starting line-up contained no less than eight new faces, with completely new defence and midfield combinations. And they didn't disappoint, taking a 3-1 lead within the first fifteen minutes of the match. Khim Borey was on target after seven minutes against his former club and Sok Pheng netted a second on ten minutes. The Army pulled a goal back two minutes later but one of Crown's trialists scored a third goal on fourteen minutes and that was the half-time scoreline. Making changes, Crown coach David Booth watched on as Chim Rathanak struck ten minutes from time to give the Crown team a 4-1 victory. PPCFC will announce its playing squad for the coming season, as well as a host of new arrivals, at a pre-season press conference at the end of this month.
In the meantime, the Cambodian national U-21s will host the SEA Games winners, the Malaysian U-23s, at the Olympic Stadium this coming Saturday (14 January) at 4pm. It's a warm-up for an U-21 tournament the Cambodians are entering in Brunei next month. No PPCFC players have been involved in the U-21s recent practice matches against Metfone C-League teams, as they have been busy preparing with the club's coaching staff ahead of the new season. The Cambodian national team beat the Malaysian Olympic side 1-0 in a similar friendly last June. However, this Malaysian team are gearing up to compete in the Singapore League starting next month, have just returned from a successful tour of Australia and are still basking in their SEA Games success. It'll be a tough lesson for Lee Tae-Hoon's team. For the friendly tournament in Brunei next month, a total of eleven teams will compete: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor Leste and Vietnam.

Fabio Cannavaro meets Khim Borey, a scorer against the Army today, during yesterday's visit by the former Italian star to the PPCFC HQ

Incredulous decision

A jubilant Khim Borey after scoring for his country in the AFF Suzuki Cup in 2008

How the heck can the head coach of a national football team go to a major championship without his best striker? But that's exactly what Cambodia's coach Lee Tae-Hoon is planning to do with the SEA Games, held every two years, just around the corner. It's hard enough to understand him at press conferences as it is, but to try and get inside his head with this decision, is simply impossible. Pure and simple, it makes no sense whatsoever. Khim Borey is a proven goalscorer in international football. His record makes that abundantly clear even to the most one-eyed of football analysts. Yet, the inscrutable South Korean coach refuses to be budged and will not be taking the Phnom Penh Crown marksman to the Games in Jakarta. Borey has a pretty impressive CV considering he's only just turned 22 years old. He was the Cambodian League’s Golden Boot winner when he top scored with 18 goals in 2008 as his team finished in 2nd spot in the Cambodian League, and he captained the Army team to a Hun Sen Cup Final success in 2010, against Phnom Penh Crown. On the international scene, Borey made his debut for his country against Syria in the Nehru Cup in 2007, having progressed rapidly in that same year from the national youth team through the Under-23 side to full international. In 2008 he scored five goals in eleven appearances for his country and then registered a rare international hat-trick against Timor Leste in the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup qualifiers held in Laos. Born in the village of Kouk Kanhchab in Takeo Province in southern Cambodia, he first came to prominence playing for the Koh Kong provincial team as a sixteen year old, before joining the National Defense Ministry club in 2006. He’d played for the Army boy’s team a couple of years earlier and conveniently lived next door to the Army headquarters in Phnom Penh. Operating primarily as a striker throughout his career, he missed five months of the 2009 season with a persistent ankle injury and in 2010 was regularly used in a deep-lying midfield role by the Army team. Before the start of the 2011 season, Borey joined Phnom Penh Crown but was denied a starting place in the Hun Sen Cup competition by the football federation. At the same time, current Crown coach David Booth, then coach at Thai Premier team Sisaket, took him on a season-long loan to northeast Thailand, where he played ten games in one of the best leagues in Asia before returning to Crown in time to line-up in the club's AFC President's Cup successes in Taiwan last month. Quite simply, Borey has been one of the country's outstanding performers over the last four years, yet Lee Tae-Hoon seems to be the only one that doesn't see it. Pointedly, Borey has more international experience as a player, despite his young age, than Lee has as a national team coach. It's a truly incredulous decision and one which will surely come back to bite the coach on his arse.

Booth no more

The man responsible for taking Khim Borey (pictured) to the Thai Premier League, Englishman David Booth, has been relieved of his duties as coach at Sisaket Muangthai. A string of poor results was too much for the Sisaket owners to stomach and the former Brunei, Myanmar and Laos national team boss, as well as more clubs than Jack Nicklaus in between, has departed. He only joined the Northeast Thai team at the start of the current season and despite signing Borey and a few others, he wasn't able to turn the tide quickly enough. Khim Borey remains on a season-long loan at Sisaket, having joined Phnom Penh Crown from the Army in November but never played a competitive match for the Cambodian champions before his move.

Dream move for Borey

Khim Borey - heading for the Thai Premier League with Sisaket

The movement of Cambodian footballers to Thailand continued yesterday when Phnom Penh Crown striker and darling of the national team, Khim Borey, joined Thai Premier League team Sisaket Muangthai on a one year loan deal. It's a plum move for the 21 year old, who was ecstatic when I spoke to him on Sunday night, just before he made the road trip to Sisaket, in northeast Thailand, to sign on the dotted line. He confided that he'd always hankered after a move abroad to play his football and this opportunity to play in the Thai Premier League was a "dream come true." It was only three months ago that Borey joined Crown after spending 4 years with the Army team and because of the ridiculous ban on ex-Army players in the Hun Sen Cup, he's not actually played for Crown in a competitive match, only appearing in a few friendly matches. Sisaket’s English coach David Booth, who was coaching Laos at the time, was impressed by Borey at the AFF Suzuki Cup qualifiers played in Vientiane last October before swooping to bring him in ahead of the new Thai Premier League season which kicks off on 19 February, alongwith other new faces from Brazil, Japan and Ghana.
Phnom Penh Crown coach Bojan Hodak gave his blessing to the loan deal. “It’s disappointing to lose a player of Khim Borey’s quality, as he's one of our best players but it’s a fantastic opportunity for him to play abroad and to improve technically and we wouldn’t stand in his way at this point in his career.” The loan arrangement between the two clubs will last until the end of October this year, so not quite a year but enough time for Borey to get a taste for the step up in standard, the vastly increased salary he'll receive and the opportunity to pit his wits against better players. He leaves behind a pretty impressive CV in his time in Cambodia. He was the Cambodian League’s Golden Boot winner when he top scored with 18 goals in 2008 as his team finished in 2nd spot in the CPLeague, and he captained the Army team to a Hun Sen Cup Final success last season, against Phnom Penh Crown. On the international scene, Borey made his debut for his country against Syria in the Nehru Cup in 2007, having progressed rapidly in that same year from the national youth team through the Under-23 side to full international. In 2008 he scored five goals in eleven appearances for his country and then registered an international hat-trick against Timor Leste in those 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup qualifiers held in Laos. Born in the village of Kouk Kanhchab in Takeo Province in southern Cambodia, he first came to prominence playing for the Koh Kong provincial team as a sixteen year old, before joining the National Defense Ministry club in 2006. He’d played for the Army boy’s team a couple of years earlier and conveniently lived next door to the Army headquarters in Phnom Penh. Operating primarily as a striker throughout his career, he missed five months of the 2009 season with a persistent ankle injury and last year was regularly used in a deep-lying midfield role by his club side.
He joins a growing list of Cambodian players now operating in Thailand but his move into the showcase Thai Premier League will really give a Khmer player the first chance to shine at the highest level in that country. Others to have made the move recently are his national teammate Keo Sokngorn (Samut Sakhon), Chan Rithy (Surin), Ly Ravy (North Bangkok) and Srey Veasna (Loei City). As the new Thai season begins in a couple of weeks it's unlikely that Borey will be allowed to join the Cambodian national team for the forthcoming games against Macau, but we shall see. In his absence, his Phnom Penh Crown colleagues will meet Prek Pra Keila in a friendly match at the club's Tuol Kork training ground ground on Saturday 5 February at 3pm.

Bojan's the man

Phnom Penh Crown's new Croatian-born head coach, Bojan Hodak

The cat is out of the bag. The new head coach and big-name signings at Phnom Penh Crown have been announced moments ago on the club's website. Read it in full here. In keeping with their 'thinking out of the box' mentality, Crown have appointed a European coach, Bojan Hodak, who has wide experience both in his home country of Croatia but also in Asian football, playing and coaching in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong. He was a no-nonsense centre-half in his playing days, earning himself a reputation as one of the best defenders during his time in Singapore with Jurong and then made a splash in his first club coaching stint with UPB-My Team in Malaysia, that started out as a television reality show before taking on a life of its own and gaining promotion to the top flight. He arrived in Phnom Penh on Sunday with his family in tow and began work on the training ground with the Crown squad at their Tuol Kork training HQ the next morning. Crown face the French Khmer Select XI at the Olympic Stadium on Saturday (3.30pm) in their first pre-season friendly, so he'll get an early look at his charges in action.

Most of the successful squad that carried off the C-League Championship last season have been retained. There are a few exceptions but in the main, the same faces will be in action again in Saturday's friendly game, but with some very notable additions. Add the two best homegrown strikers in the country and mix with one of the most accomplished utility players and you have yourself a trio of new arrivals that will send a shudder through the ranks of their C-League rivals. The country's pin-up strikers, Kouch Sokumpheak (aged 23) and Khim Borey (21), have been prised away from their old teams, which wasn't easy as both of them remained loyal to Khemara Keila and the Army for the last five and four years respectively. They have played alongside each other for the Cambodian national team for the last few years despite their tender ages and look set to make another big impression on the C-League this season with their new club. Joining them is San Narith (24), a national team colleague, who can play at left-back or in central midfield, after time with the Army, Khemara and Preah Khan Reach.

Also strengthening the Crown squad are two new arrivals from the Singapore League. They are Nigerian-born duo, Odion Obadin (21), a central defender, and striker Kingsley Njoku (24). Both players spent three years each at Gombak United in the S-League after progressing through the tough Nigerian academy system and playing professional football in their own country before moving to Asia. Their previous experience in the professional ranks of Singapore will bring a new dimension to the foreign contingent that usually ply their trade in Cambodia.

Crown are quick to point out that they are still looking to add more names to their squad before the action really kicks in at the start of the new year when the Hun Sen Cup will begin. Coach Hodak is looking for half a dozen friendly games at least to whip his team into shape and that might include some action abroad. The club will also be competing in the AFC President's Cup and the Singapore Cup next year, so making an impression in these regional Asian competitions is firmly on the agenda for 2011.

Coach Bojan Hodak keeps a close eye on his Crown squad during training yesterday

Crown's two new arrivals from Singapore, Odion Obadin (left) and Kingsley Njoku. More photos to follow.

Borey is a shining star

I promise you that the player with his face obscured by the ball is Khim Borey, the Army's number 7 and skipper. Photo nicksellsphotography

Each week as the regular press guy from Phnom Penh Post at the majority of the Metfone C-League games, I get to pick the STAR of the Week, who then gets a write-up and photo in the Friday Khmer Sports edition. I'm always pleased when a Khmer players stands out above the rest so I was only too happy to select Khim Borey as this week's star. Not only did he score a hat-trick in the Army's demolition of Chhma Khmao, he led from the front as well as dropping back into midfield to orchestrate his team's offense. He takes his captain's responsibilities seriously despite still being just 21 years old, and a Cambodian international for what seems like eons. I reckon he must've got his first cap when he was still in nappies (actually it was in 2007, when he was playing for both the country's youth and full national teams). He was the Golden Boot winner for most goals in 2008 but has suffered a bit with injuries since, so it's great to see him getting back to fitness and top form. Likeable guy, who is quite shy off the pitch, but one of Cambodia's best on it.

By way of further evidence, here is Khim Borey (white shirt, number 7) challenging for a high ball. Photo nicksellsphotography

Last but not least, perhaps one of the most unflattering photos of me, ever, captured by happy snapper Nick Sells at the Olympic Stadium yesterday. Photo nicksellsphotography