Double figures for Crown

Match Report: PPCFC 10 Football Future Pro 3 (Pre-Season Friendly).
In this afternoon's friendly at RSN Stadium, a Crown team made up of players who didn't play in last night's friendly with Western, put FFP to the sword after a sluggish start. The 2nd-half was brightened considerably by the first appearance of Shane Booysen since his ACL injury in February. FFP got the ball rolling with the first goal, through Privat on 10 minutes. Four minutes later Sin Kakada curled in the equaliser from a 20-yard free-kick. Within a minute FFP went further ahead and on 18 minutes Pov Ponvuthy made it 2-2, heading in Sraing Titchhy's cross. On 35 minutes, Thai striker Somkiat Kunmee netted his second goal in three minutes, with deadly accuracy, and Mat Sakrovy rifled in a far post volley from Yeu Muslim's cross, a minute before the break.

With the addition of Booysen at the interval, Crown continued to take the game to FFP and the South African signalled his return with a curling free-kick into the top corner from 18 yards, eight minutes into the half. A minute later he moved effortlessly onto Kakada's pass and sent a first-time chip over the stranded goalkeeper for his second. Next he turned provider with a perfect pass for Somkiat to run through and lob the keeper on 64 minutes, for his hat-trick goal. With 71 minutes on the clock, Somkiat turned neatly in the box and set up Kakada for his second goal and a minute later, Sakrovy's bye-line center was turned into his own goal by a defender for Crown's tenth. Baldwin scored a consolation for FFP but Crown failed to convert another half-dozen chances through Booysen and Somkiat before the final whistle.
PPCFC line-up, back row, LtoR: Chanvuthy, Boris, Chanchav, Titchhy, Sakrovy, Sovann. Front: Kakada, Muslim, Somkiat, Piphop, Ponvuthy.

Shane Booysen made his eagerly-awaited return to competitive football for the second-half of today's practice game with FFPCA. And he crowned his return with two goals in the first nine minutes of stepping back onto the pitch in a 10-3 victory. His last game was in February before his ACL operation. How did he feel? "Playing 45 minutes after such a long time was breathtaking, quite literally. I never thought that coming back so soon would be so hard, but I had a good time and enjoyed myself. My touches were a bit rusty but with more match fitness I will get there. Overall experience was really nice and playing with my new teammates and the younger guys made my job a bit easier as they ran more. Let's see and hope that my match fitness will return and our team will pick up their performance. There was a touch of rustiness and I was not clinical enough. One ball I approached it thinking it was a goal already but it shows you are never bigger than the game, so its something I need to work on to be back to where I was." From all PPCFC and football fans, welcome back Shane. 

No goals at Western

Match Report: PPCFC 0 Western 0 (Pre-Season Friendly).
In tonight's friendly under floodlights at Western, it was Crown that started on the front foot when Mao Piseth robbed a defender but sent his flicked shot just wide of the upright. Pov Ponvuthy had a couple of chances that he could've done better with while the home team's Osa crashed a free-kick against the cross-bar and then rolled a shot against the foot of the post. Keo Soksela tipped a free-kick over the bar on the restart before Western's keeper made a double save from Seut Baraing's free-kick and Kok Boris' follow-up shot. Thi Va impressed in his first game but his shot was easily held. Kim Namgun's run to the bye-line gave Boris another chance but his shot was deflected wide, and then he headed over from another Baraing free-kick, as the game ended scoreless.
PPCFC line-up, back row, LtoR: Soksela, Va, Safy, Pissa, Chanchav, Pisa (capt). Front: Baraing, Noeut, Piseth, Ponvuthy, Rozak.

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.

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.

A Story of Biblical Proportions

David Casserly - PPCFC's lawyer

When Phnom Penh Crown (PPCFC) were smacked with a ban from the AFC Cup, which should’ve been their icing on the cake for winning the Metfone Cambodian League at the end of last year, they were devastated and in disbelief. The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) - the governing body for football in the Asian continent - informed the Cambodian Football Federation (FFC) on 20 May 2016 that PPCFC were not allowed to take part because of activities relating to match manipulation and they asked FFC to select another team. With their hard-earned prize torn from their grasp, PPCFC immediately appealed against the ban only for AFC to confirm their decision was final. On 3 June PPCFC made a last-ditch appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), often referred to as ‘sport’s supreme court,’ in an effort to overturn what they saw as an unfair and unjust decision by AFC. CAS is located in Lausanne in Switzerland and resolves sports-related disputes through arbitration, often involving such high-profile names as Sepp Blatter, Michel Platini, Prince Ali bin Hussein of Jordan, Maria Sharapova and dozens of athletes at the recent Rio Olympics.

For a small team like PPCFC from lowly-ranked Cambodia to take on such a formidable adversary in the form of the AFC was unheard of. You could liken it to the biblical proportions of David versus Goliath. PPCFC appointed Irish barrister and sports lawyer David Casserly (pictured above) as their go-to man. His involvement in several landmark cases and his experience acting for FIFA and UEFA, as well as several Champions League clubs in Italy, Portugal and France, was essential to any possibility of a successful appeal. He has a history of acting in leading corruption cases, foremost among them the World Cup vote-buying scandal, several of the key Bosman/Article 17 cases and disputes involving top players such as Luis Suarez, Pepe and Essien. He’d also previously acted as legal counsel and head of mediation at CAS itself. Assisting him was Jose Luis Andrade, a Portuguese attorney who had experience working on dispute resolution at FIFA.

At PPCFC, a small team of head coach Sam Schweingruber, general-secretary Ly Heang, press officer Andy Brouwer alongwith vice president Tommy Lim, provided Casserly and Andrade with the background information they needed to formulate their appeal against the AFC decision to deny PPCFC admission to the 2017 AFC Cup. Afterall, it was PPCFC who initially took internal action against match manipulation activities before placing the evidence with the FFC, who later banned four coaches. To punish the club for their proactive stance against such activities was the underlying unfairness of the AFC position.

The appeal case was heard by the CAS Arbitration Panel in their Lausanne headquarters on 19 August 2016. They found in favour of PPCFC, upholding the appeal, dismissed the decision of AFC and ordered them to allow PPCFC to participate in the AFC Cup Playoff Stage, likely to be held in February 2017. It was another successful landmark case for David Casserly and Jose Luis Andrade and an outcome that speaks volumes for the integrity and resourcefulness of PPCFC. They had stood their ground, taken on the might of AFC and won. History in the making and perhaps a result that a young shepherd boy with a slingshot would be proud of.

Media on CAS ruling

The local media picked up the story of the Court of Arbitration for Sport's (CAS) ruling that PPCFC should be allowed to participate in the 2017 edition of the AFC Cup, by upholding our appeal against the decision of the AFC to refuse us admission, despite the club being the Cambodian champions. We will now join the competition at the Playoff Stage, likely to be held in February next year. 
CAS provides international sport with an independent authority specialising in sports-related disputes and is seen as the last possible decision maker on a variety of sporting issues. Their headquarters, where our case was heard, is in Switzerland. Here are some of the media articles:
[in English] http://www.phnompenhpost.com/…/crown-allowed-2017-afc-cup-a…
[in English] http://www.cambodiadaily.com/…/phnom-penh-crowns-match-fix…/
[in English] http://www.khmertimeskh.com/…/birthday-boy-udom-dampens-cr…/
http://keiladaily.com/index.php…
http://www.camsports.org/sports/13837.html
http://news.sabay.com.kh/article/812648
http://wearefootball.com.kh/2016/08/24/26729
https://postnews.media/p/64140

442 Magazine on Sam & PPCFC

FourFourTwo is the world’s biggest football magazine and they published this article on head coach Sam Schweingruber and PPCFC back in April 2016, just after Sam's return to the club following his rehabilitation in Switzerland. He is fortunate to be alive - his instinct for survival has much to do with him being here today. The story, written by Scott McIntyre, is worth repeating again and again. If you aren't prepared to stand up for what you believe in, don't bother standing up at all.
http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/remarkable-story-sam-schweingruber-cambodias-death-cheating-vigilante

World Soccer Magazine on PPCFC

World Soccer Magazine is the unrivalled authority on the game of soccer around the world. The best writers, analytical features and the inside-track on domestic and world football have made World Soccer an institution. In it's latest edition for September, Christian Radnedge looks at PPCFC's fight to clear its name after our ban from the AFC Cup, by taking our case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. CAS upheld our appeal and we will enter the AFC Cup early next year.

Final game ends in defeat

PPCFC vs Svay Rieng, Lost 2-3, back row, LtoR: Soksela, Kim, Thierry, Aymard, Jang, Boris. Front: Sothy, Pissa, Sokpheng, Baraing, Makara.

Wednesday 24 August 2016: Phnom Penh Crown 2 PKR Svay Rieng 3 (Metfone C-League Round 18).
Crown came away from Svay Rieng disappointed at not bringing back at least a point from their final league game of the 2016 season. They deserved it with a battling performance. The visitors began on the front foot and had Svay Rieng pinned back for the opening five minutes but it was the home side who took the lead in the 10th minute when Hoy Phallin fired past Keo Soksela after Obi Moneke had created the space. Kim Hyeon Woo netted only to be flagged offside and then somehow screwed his shot wide from close range after Keo Sokpheng’s weaving run on the left. On 29 minutes Prak Mony Udom scored an unstoppable free-kick from 23 yards to put the home team further ahead. The game continued to provide talking points when Kim was felled twice in the penalty box, Bin Thierry got behind the defence but blasted high and wide and Sokpheng’s free-kick was scrambled wide at the foot of the post. An even first half had seen SVR take their chances to lead 2-nil.
Jang In Yong continued to be a threat but blasted over on the restart, while another Udom free-kick had Soksela scuttling to his near post. A scuffle between Kok Boris and Lee Jongho saw both players cautioned, though two SVR substitutes that joined in the commotion went unpunished. Thierry failed to connect with any power when Sokpheng’s corner fell to him but Crown were back in the game on 67 minutes. Jang’s bustling run between three defenders wrong-footed the SVR defence and Sokpheng dispatched the pull-back with accuracy. PPCFC were on top at this point and a Thierry free-kick was back-headed goalwards by Jang only for the home keeper to produce a flying one-handed save. The home side then broke quickly and a foul on the edge of the area gave Udom the opportunity to find the net with a second free-kick that Soksela couldn’t keep out. A third goal against the run of play was a tough pill to swallow. Crown rallied, with Anthony Aymard heading over and a Thierry corner going through a host of bodies in the six-yard box. Crown did pull a goal back, four minutes into stoppage time, when Boris finished off a powerful run with an accurate shot from distance, but it was too late to repair the damage as the season came to a close with defeat.

PPCFC Head coach Sam Schweingruber gave his views after the final whistle. “Our defensive organisation wasn’t quite right at the start, they threatened us with their speed and it took us a while to adjust. We went 1-nil down but we had quite a few chances, especially one for Kim, so you would’ve expected us to go to half-time with a better result. Quite a few moments when on a good day we would have scored more goals and actually won the game. Fortunately for SVR, Udom scored two good free-kicks that helped them get the win. The first free-kick, there’s absolutely nothing you can do to stop that. No goalkeeper can stop that one. The second free-kick, we have to do better and we will re-evaluate that with our goalkeeping coach. As for SVR’s third goal, that was not really fair as we’d had a few good attacking moves before that, and that goal hurt us.
Jang had good speed and touches today, very good to see. Sokpheng was good as well, a neat finish and good moments with his movement and intentions. The attitude of Baraing was very good, he’s a 16-year-old boy but his energy and intentions to attack is very encouraging as that kind of attitude will help us to be champions again in the future.”

Crown Appeal to CAS upheld

Phnom Penh Crown Club Statement : Dated 24 August 2016:

Phnom Penh Crown Football Club is very pleased to announce that the club will be allowed to participate in the 2017 AFC Cup following our appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

On 20 May 2016 the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) announced that PPCFC was refused admission to compete in the 2017 AFC Cup, despite being the Champions of the Metfone Cambodian League in 2015.

PPCFC appealed against the AFC decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland on 3 June 2016.

Following a hearing at the CAS headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland on 19 August 2016, CAS upheld the club’s appeal, dismissed the decision of AFC, and ordered AFC to allow PPCFC to participate in the AFC Cup 2017.

PPCFC will consequently be admitted to participate in the AFC Cup Playoff Stage, likely to be held in February 2017.

PPCFC would like to express its appreciation to the CAS Arbitration Panel for their integrity and fairness and to its lawyers, Mr David Casserly and Mr Jose Luis Andrade, for their utmost professionalism and tireless efforts in this matter on our behalf.

Andy Brouwer
Press Officer
PPCFC
RSN Stadium, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Last minute

We've just played the first game of the second-half of the Metfone C-League. We are 12 points off the leaders after a goal-less draw with Cambo Tiger. And that in a nutshell sums up our season. Off the pace and off the goal-trail. Lots of reasons for it and how long have you got, but there's little point in crying over spilt milk, we have to grin and bear it, and get on with it. Clubs are allowed to change 2 foreigners and 3 locals in between the 1st and 2nd rounds of the season but at the 11th hour, the federation extended the deadline to the end of this month, as they said some clubs didn't have enough time to get new players, even though everyone knew about it for months in advance. We have been looking at many foreigners over the last few months, a few have been in on try out, unsuccessfully, others we've seen on video and tons more just offered by email and CVs. We have settled on two new faces, but their registrations are taking an age to complete, so we haven't announced them yet. Some names have got out but I won't confirm anything until we have all the t's crossed and the i's dotted. You never know we might just change our minds at the last minute, like the federation.

Off to Court

In case you haven't heard, Phnom Penh Crown were denied entry into this season's AFC Cup Playoff Qualifiers by the AFC themselves. They pointed at one of their obscure statutes and flashed a big HALT sign in front of us. Essentially cutting our legs from under us. We refuse to take this lying down (pun intended) and have appealed the decision to the highest court available to sports teams and individuals, the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland. Wish us well. Definitely a David vs Goliath scenario. So much to say, but unable to say it at this point in time. Watch this space.

442 on PPCFC

FourFourTwo, the biggest football magazine on the planet, turn their attention to Phnom Penh Crown in their Untold Stories series on SEA clubs. Read more @ http://www.fourfourtwo.com/sg/features/untold-stories-southeast-asian-clubs-phnom-penh-crown-fc#lAA1Yo8uuMpBOeZg.99#:hN0i6GPbjAiwkA

Tiger Tamed

PPCFC vs Cambodian Tiger, Won 2-0, back row, LtoR: Lee, Kelechi, Thierry N, Boris, Aymard, Samnang. Front: Sothy, Chanpolin, Pisa, Baraing, Sodavid

Friday 11 March 2016: Phnom Penh Crown 2 Cambodian Tiger 0 (Friendly).
Two goals either side of the half-time break killed off Tiger at Western Stadium in this afternoon’s friendly match. South Korean trialist Lee Joo-Yong went close with two shots from outside the box in the opening 18 minutes before Svang Samnang came to the rescue with a block as Tiger broke through. In Sodavid’s blast was punched away by Hem Simay, before Chhom Pisa skewed a header wide and with 3 minutes of the 1st-half left, Crown took the lead. A foul on Pisa gave Seut Baraing a sight of goal from 20 yards and his up-and-over curling free-kick found the bottom corner inside the near post. It was Baraing again, just two minutes after the interval, with another free-kick that saw Kok Boris put pressure on Simay and Ouk Sothy found himself with a simple header into an unguarded net for 2-nil. Sothy was inches away from a second headed goal, while Keo Soksela came out smartly to block Suong Virak’s attempted chip. Ouk Serey Ratanak and Chhuot Senteang looked lively up front for Crown, who had attempts from Baraing and Mat Sakrovy stopped by the Tiger keeper, as the visitors claimed a deserved victory.

Saturday 12 March 2016: Phnom Penh Crown Academy 5 CMAC Utd 1 (Friendly).
The Crown Academy continued their winning form with a comprehensive 5-1 win over a CMAC United XI at RSN Stadium Saturday morning. Nop David and Men Piphop put the mixed U-16/U-18 Academy team two goals ahead in the opening 20 minutes, with CMAC’s Aaron Sexton grabbing a goal on the half-hour. The introduction of Ouk Sovann and Mat Sakrovy at half-time strengthened the Academy attack with Sovann supplying Sakrovy for Crown’s third on 63 minutes. In time added-on, Sovann again turned provider for another Sakrovy goal, before Sovann scored a fine individual goal himself in the final seconds.

Girl Power!

Phnom Penh Crown hosted a very successful International Women’s Day fun football festival under the banner of Girl Power! this morning at RSN Stadium. The Crown 1st-team squad and younger Academy boys took part as team captains and cheerleaders, to support and encourage the young girls that came from all over the city to join in. After a series of friendly matches and fun games, the final was decided on penalty kicks (with Thierry and Boris’ team taking 1st place), with prizes for the winning team and runners-up. Thanks to all the girls from COLT and other organisations, as well as our players and staff who joined in to make this a memorable morning promoting girls in sport at RSN. At Crown we encourage participation by women in everything we do, whether it is coaching, community football and our own Ladies football team. We truly believe football is for everyone.

Defeat in week 3

PPCFC vs Naga, Lost 2-1: back row, LtoR: Kelechi, Aymard, Thierry N, Makara, Boris (capt). Front: Soksela, Chanpolin, Boran, Titchhy, Baraing, Sodavid

Saturday 5 March 2016: Phnom Penh Crown 1 Nagaworld 2 (Metfone C-League Week 3):
Crown were caught cold from the start and conceded after just 24 seconds of the game when Kouch Sokumpheak flicked in a right-wing center from Privat Mbarga and the ball bobbled through the legs of Keo Soksela in the Crown goal. In response, Neou Thierry headed over and Long Boran’s far post nod was stopped on the goal-line. Soksela came out quickly to halt Rasheed Omokafe’s run and chip and later in the first-half he did the same to Mbarga, before a one-handed low save to deny Park Yong-Jun. Crown’s best effort came courtesy of a 25-yard In Sodavid free-kick that was smothered at the foot of the upright by Yok Ary.
After the break, Sodavid’s run and shot and Seut Baraing’s deflected drive failed to trouble Naga’s keeper before the home side extended their lead on 65 minutes. Sun Sovanrithy’s deep left-wing cross was headed in unopposed at the far post by Mbarga to give Crown a mountain to climb. Ouk Sothy and Leng Makara sent efforts wide before Sean Pissa joined the action and within 40 seconds he’d reduced the deficit with a glorious curling strike into the roof of the net from just inside the penalty area. The goal came with 10 minutes remaining but Crown couldn’t make their pressure count and their last chance went astray when a Chhom Pisa drive from the edge of the area sailed over the top. It was Crown’s first defeat of the new season in week 3. PPCFC vs Naga: Soksela, Baraing, Titchhy (C Pisa 46), Aymard, Boris, Chanpolin, N Thierry (S Pissa 79), Kelechi, Boran (Sothy 66), Makara, Sodavid. Subs not used:  S Samnang, Yaneat, Senteang, Tola. Goal: Pissa (80). Referee: Chi Samedi.

Sunday 6 March 2016: Phnom Penh Crown Academy 1 FFC National Academy 0 (Friendly).
It was back to winning ways for the Crown Academy mixed team against the FFC Academy at Olympic Stadium this morning. In this 105-minute match of four periods, Crown dominated the first two periods and efforts from Yeu Muslim and Sin Kakada struck the woodwork, while Pov Ponvuthy, Sath Rozak and Mit Samel also went close to breaking the deadlock. FFC pressed in the third period and keeper Svang Samnang showed his class with two brave saves. On 97 minutes Men Piphop created space for himself in the opposition penalty area, taking a Ponvuthy pass in his stride, and rifled the ball home for the only goal of the game, to take Crown’s record to 11 wins in 12 matches against the FFC Academy. It was the first game under new coach Oleg Starynskyi.

Goal-less at Olympic

PPCFC vs Nat Police, back row, LtoR: Kelechi, Pissa, Aymard, Sokngon, Makara, Boris (capt). Front Row: Soksela, Sodavid, Chanpolin, Baraing, Booysen

Friday 26 February 2016 : Phnom Penh Crown 0 National Police 0 (Metfone C-League Week 2).
Crown will see this as two points dropped, after they failed to make their domination of the match count in front of goal. The game started in the worse possible fashion with dangerman Shane Booysen hobbling off after just a minute with a twisted knee, with Long Boran replacing him and Seut Baraing moving into midfield. Baraing tried his luck with a thirty-yard free-kick that goalkeeper Prak Pherun grabbed at the second attempt. A poor pass by Keo Soksela presented Nuth Sinoun with a glorious opportunity inside the Crown penalty box but his weak shot was cleared by Anthony Aymard. Tith Dina’s free-kick found Adekunjo Busayo in space but his header was straight at Soksela. With few clear chances in the first-half, both goalkeepers had to deal with long range efforts with Pherun diving full length to push aside a George Kelechi effort, and Soksela tipping over a Noun Borey drive from wide on the left. Orn Chanpolin’s effort on the break was deflected wide by Sinoun and In Sodavid’s ball behind the Police defence was missed completely by Keo Sokngon in the six-yard box.  In the last minute, another Sodavid  cross was dropped by Pherun but Sokngon’s attempted lob was way off target, and with the final kick, Borey sent a long range effort over the cross-bar.
Kelechi glanced a header inches wide from Sean Pissa’s cross just after the break, Soksela was in the right place to punch away a Sinoun free-kick and then he collected a Oh Ju-Ho shot through a crowd of players. A 30-yard attempt by Boran cleared the bar, Sokngon will feel he should’ve done better when he got on the end of a Leng Makara cross, Kelechi blasted across the face of goal and Seut Baraing’s 20-yard drilled right-foot drive was tipped over by Pherun. Just before the end, Sokngon headed wide at the far post from Kelechi’s pass, he then shot weakly at Pherun from another Kelechi feed and then supplied Sodavid, but he curled his drive over. In the seventh minute of time added on, Baraing sent a free-kick two yards over the top as the game ended goal-less, with disappointment etched on the faces of the Crown players and staff.

Head coach Oriol Mohedano gave his views at the end of the game. “Not a happy day for us. We expected more from the game. We should’ve done better in the first half, but we didn’t attack well. Respect to our opponents in the first half who surprised us with their intensity. The sensations after such a match; we are disappointed, the result it’s not enough for us. We pushed for the win, but it never came.” PPCFC v Nat Police: Soksela, Makara, Baraing, Aymard, Boris, Chanpolin, Pissa (Sothy 70), Sokngon, Sodavid, Booysen (Boran 6), Kelechi. Subs (not used): S Samnang, Thierry N, Titchhy, Senteang, Tola. Booking: Sothy.

Incoming and outgoing

Ukrainian-born coach Oleg Starynskyi (30) arrived at RSN Stadium last week to help the club’s Academy set-up after spending the last 3 and a half years in Malaysia including the past six months as the assistant coach of the Malaysian U-17 national team. Oleg 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. Oleg is pictured above with GM Sam Schweingruber. 

Harry Varley’s has coached his final session with the PPCFC Academy U-15/U-17s. After six months with Crown as Academy Technical Coordinator, as well as overseeing the Football School and our community engagement program, British-born Harry is heading to Grenada in the Caribbean to take on the role as their head of football. He will be in charge for the CONCACAF U-17s Women’s Championship and the men’s Caribbean Cup squad next month. Thanks to Harry for his hard work during his time with the club and we wish him much success in the future with the Spice Boyz.