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.”

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

Sam on NT win

Head coach Sam Schweingruber's views on his team's 3-2 success against the Cambodia National Team last night. "The objectives are always different for friendly games than when league points are at stake. We were hoping to be more compact and to press at certain times. It didn't happen often enough - we want to get into the habit as when we did it, we did it well. It was a topic in training this week. And we scored 3 goals so that's good.
In the first-half we were a bit intimidated to start with, not good enough in possession, though it was an amazing headed goal, beautiful, as we had hardly any chances the whole half. I expected better. And a very disappointing goal to concede at the start of the second-half, but it happens at all levels. I was pleased with our response, we had chances in the air, we scored three headed goals and I'm satisfied that what we wanted to happen, worked against good opposition." In the picture, Sam speaks to his players at the final whistle.
Watch the video highlights from PPCFC's 3-2 victory over the Cambodia National Team at RSN Stadium on the club's YouTube channel @https://youtu.be/Zs7XfWxaKyE

Sam speaks

Moments after the final whistle, PPCFC head coach Sam Schweingruber gave his views on the Championship Final victory, a 3-2 win on penalties after a 1-3 reversal in the 120 minutes of the second leg. "The first-half was good, we looked in control, they had one chance from a corner, other than that we had some half chances, looked solid - it was a good 1st-half performance. I was quite happy. Second-half we started nervously, I thought the substitution made by Naga was a good one and we gave a goal away in the first ten minutes of the second period. It was a shocker, a gift to Naga and it kicked us. We started to look even more nervous, not in control, we got back with a penalty and looked more dangerous but not really good enough and ended up conceding two poor goals, especially the third one in the 90th minute, which was just rubbish. 
Extra time was poor too, I thought both teams looked tired, though we were the one team looking to do something, Naga were just hoping to win on penalties. It was a bit strange. I don't think they had one single chance in the thirty minutes apart from a free-kick that we failed to clear. I didn't feel we had it in us to win unfortunately and there was not enough time between the short breaks to give the team the direction they needed.
We were launching the ball long too much and couldn't work off the second ball. We didn't plan this at all. So for most of the time we looked horrible. So I introduced George Bisan for extra time as we were giving the ball away again and again. It went wrong when we gave the first goal away. Quite a few players were in shock as we were obviously the better team, we were pressing, playing the better football and in comfortable control. They get a goal out of nowhere and it all changed.
As for the penalties, we had a penalty shoot-out once in training. We were in a good enough position not to go to penalties and I didn't want to give my team the idea that we were planning on penalties. But yes we had it in mind. Three saves is always enough to win a shoot-out but we shouldn't have missed two though. Before the penalties I wondered if he (Keo Soksela) could actually do it and it turned out he was absolutely amazing and saved us the game."

On show

The PPCFC players at AEON Mall for the launch of the Toyota Mekong Cup

Almost as soon as the friendly match against NagaCorp finished yesterday, seven of the Phnom Penh Crown players headed to the AEON Mall for a launch by the Toyoya (Cambodia) Company of the upcoming Toyota Mekong Club Championship. On a stage in the middle of the new mall, the Crown players and general secretary Ly Heang responded to media questions and posed for photographs. Toyota are putting up a lot of money - $75K for the winners no less - for a competition to find what they are calling the Champion of Champions, of the Mekong region obviously. The players in attendance were Koen Bosma, Adriano Pellegrino, Bin Thierry, Kok Boris, Khim Borey, Yok Ary and Sos Suhana. Afterwards the players headed off for their Pchum Ben holiday break.

While everyone is enjoying their Pchum Ben holiday in Cambodia, Crown's head coach Sam Schweingruber will be spending the holidays in Japan, as he flies out for a week of instructing other coaches and 450 children in Nagoya, the third largest city in Japan. As a FIFA instructor, Sam will be supporting the Japan Football Association's grassroots program. He was recently doing the same thing in China for a month.

Crown to face V-League champs

Sam Schweingruber speaking to the media

At the same time as Phnom Penh Crown received their official invitation to join the Toyota Mekong Club Championship at the weekend, it was revealed that their opponents in the semi-final will be the Eximbank Vietnamese League champions Becamex Binh Duong on 31 October at the home of the V-League team, the Go Dau stadium, just outside of Ho Chi Minh City. That's the toughest draw possible for Crown, with the Laos champions, HAGL Attapeu facing the winners of the Myanmar Ooredoo Cup, Ayeyawady United in the other semi-final. The final will be played two days later. With big prize money up for grabs - the winners receive $75,000 while the 4th-placed team gets $10,000 - winning that semi-final match has both national pride and monetary rewards at stake. Crown head coach Sam Schweingruber, whose team starts back for pre-season training today, had this to say about the competition. "We hope that all our players will be fit and ready at the end of October - obviously we'll have to wait and see. Right now Thierry is struggling with a knee injury, but we hope its nothing serious and he is back to full strength soon. We are going to be short in numbers during our pre-season, which is a big concern as we are without our national team players until 11 days before the Mekong Cup - which is a serious challenge to ideal preparations. I've started to look at the 3 teams that we might play and started to request information - but so far have not had the time to start a detailed study. Now we know that for the first game we will face the champions of Vietnam, Binh Duong. So far I have only seen a few small clips of their last games and I hope I can study them in more detail soon. From what I understand, we can register 5 foreign players and have 4 of them involved in the game, so I expect our foreign players to play an important role in helping us get the best possible result. Can we win? You never know, football can bring surprises. Sure, we know that on paper the V-League is much stronger than our league in Cambodia and that the teams have bigger budgets and better players, more experience and so on. Binh Duong is a very good team and we need to prepare as well as possible, to be ready to give our very best and with some luck, maybe we can surprise them. A lot of things will need to go perfect for us. It's a great challenge and we don't have that much to lose, we are the underdogs, that can help us."
For Binh Duong it was the club's third championship success after getting into the top division in 2004. They won it in 2007 and 2009 and progressed from 8th spot in 2013 to become this year's champions. However, they suffered a setback in the Vietnam National Cup final, losing to unfancied Haiphong.

Becamex Binh Duong receiving their 2014 Championship trophy

Sam on the Mekong Cup

Sam Schweingruber - by Masayori Ishikawa

A brand new competition, the Toyota Mekong Club Championship is a reward for Phnom Penh Crown's Cambodian League Championship success. It's a 4-team tournament which will be held for the first time, in Vietnam, between 31 October and 2 November 2014. Toyota have put together the Champions of 4 countries - Vietnam (Becamex Binh Duong), Cambodia (Phnom Penh Crown), Laos (HAGL Attapeu) and Myanmar (still to be decided) - to organise this exciting competition, to find the best club team in the Mekong region. The venue has recently been switched to Ho Chi Minh City, with teams eligible to have 4 foreign players in their 18-man squad. There will be semi-final matches, then a 3rd/4th place play-off before the grand final. Its expected the matches will be screened live on TV in all four countries and the winning team will take home a cash prize of $75,000. The competition's Most Valuable Player will receive $15,000. Now that's prizemoney that is well worth winning. 
 
Crown head coach Sam Schweingruber is in China, but found time to offer up his thoughts about this new competition. "We are proud to be the first Cambodian team to be representing the country in the newly formed competition - the Mekong Cup. Obviously this is a huge opportunity for us to gain experience playing against champions of neighboring countries and we are looking forward to learning more about our opponents and other details, like the cup regulations. In preparation for the new season the Mekong Cup is coming a bit early. In preparation for the tournament, we will be for most of the time without at least 7 players that train with the National Team - so we will only be getting back together 10 days before departure, and will have to try to get everybody on the same page, especially new players like Koen. We hope to be playing some more international matches closer to the start of the new season and are preparing a tour, but details are not yet confirmed. Looking at the disappointing position Cambodia takes in the FIFA World Rankings (201st) we are aware that playing outside Cambodia pretty much always means we are the underdogs. But this will be the only way for us to try close the gap by playing against better teams." 
More information on the new competition can be found on its website @ http://toyotamekongfootball.com/. 

Meanwhile, Crown have decided not to renew the contract of speedy winger Neou Sosela after one season with the club. Sosela's appearances were limited during the team's Championship-winning campaign that has just ended and head coach Sam Schweingruber has decided that it's best for both parties if the former Army and National Police speedster seeks first-team opportunities elsewhere. Albirex looks like the former Cambodia U-23's next destination.

Bosma flies in

Koen Bosma signs on the dotted line

Phnom Penh Crown have signed Dutch attacking midfielder Koen Bosma, as one of their foreign players for next season. Koen, who will be 24 next month, enjoyed a successful trial with Crown in July, including three goals in a practice match with TriAsia, and is keen to make his mark at the club. "Joining PPCFC is a perfect move for me. Right from the start Sam gave me a good feeling about Cambodia and the club and all the guys were really nice - it just felt so comfortable. I have high expectations and the fans can expect goals and assists from me. I am a player who loves to have the ball and take on opponents. I know PPCFC are the most respected club in Cambodia and I'm proud to be a part of the Crown Family - I can't wait to get started." Koen began his football in the academy at HFC Haarlem in Holland, before signing professional and making his debut in the Jupiler League (the Dutch 2nd Division) in 2009. He moved onto AZ Alkmaar briefly when Haarlem went bankrupt, before joining VVSB in the Topklasse League, the Dutch third tier, four years ago. Last season, Koen scored 17 goals and provided 16 assists in 27 matches for VVSB, completed his masters degree in International Sports Management and is really looking forward to making Cambodia his new home. Head coach Sam Schweingruber is pleased with his new addition. "I am very happy that this deal with Koen has come through. I considered him for the second part of the season in May but it didn’t work out back then. Later he came for try-out and showed determination to be part of our project. He is technically very good and because he uses both feet equally, for a defender he's hard to predict. He has great instincts and scores lots of goals. I also like his confidence and ambition - somebody that it is a joy to work with. He is smart, disciplined and professional - what we need to move forward in our attempt to be the best club in Cambodia and to retain our title."

Sam on the spot

Sam Schweingruber answering questions

Phnom Penh Crown coach Sam Schweingruber answered a series of questions from local news website Sabay and this is what he had to say:

Q. What was good and bad about your season?
A. If you only draw 3 games and lose 2 out of 22 games (so make 54 from a max of 66 - dropping 12 points) and you are 7 points clear of second place, you have obviously done a lot of things really well. Our team has a good understanding of how we want to play, good ideas, very good fitness and also excellent team work and unity. We focused quite a bit on set pieces and have achieved reasonable success. The coaching staff managed to give the players a goal that everybody worked really well to achieve. For weak points - I would call it areas that we want to improve. Not weak but more like not yet good enough. We are getting better at understanding how to play in difficult situations, need to be more relaxed under pressure, so that is a mental problem and comes with experience and we hope to develop this. We also need to be more composed in front of goal. I am not happy with the amount of chances we missed. Also, this year we conceded a total of 20 goals - that is too much and a few of the goals were really silly mistakes - we will work hard to cut these mistakes and be better organized.

1   

Q. What was the difference between the 1st and 2nd Rounds for your team?
A. A good team in not built overnight, it takes time to develop understanding of the plans and also understanding of the players with each other. Sure, the addition of Adriano Pellegrino helped our team to be more mature and controlled in stressful situations. But all in all I would say that our team needed more time to develop and get more comfortable with the ways we want to play. We only lost 1 game in the first half of season - and that had to do with an early red card in the game - something that can happen to any team.

Q. What's your future with Crown?
A. As I am currently working for FIFA in China for a whole month, the contract negotiations have not been progressing. I have a verbal agreement from the Club to continue to work with me. Even though I have some other interesting offers, I am hoping to stay at the Club for a few more years to further develop this project to make the Club more professional and also gain international recognition.

Q. What are the plans for next season?
A. The plans are to further improve the way we play and start integrating Academy players into the first team for longer term success. We will do everything possible to achieve success in the domestic competitions and strengthen our squad if possible to also be challenging internationally. Yes, we will try hard to retain the CPL title, but we are also aware that there are many other teams investing and looking to develop a strong team to challenge us. This is good for Cambodian Football as competition will improve the quality and standard. 

Q. What was good and bad about the season?
A. The playing facilities (both pitches) are terrible and the standard of refereeing will also need to be further improved for football to properly develop in Cambodia. The new teams that were added have impressed me, I am glad these teams (Albirex and TriAsia) are here and try to develop football the right way. 

Q. What about activities for the Fans?
A. I am very happy to see more and more focus on generating interest for the fans. The fans are the blood of each club and we need more of them to get our clubs more professional and better. I hope the Cambodian people start to understand more of the meaning of loyalty to a club - so many people I see wear Boeung Ket and Crown jerseys within the same season - some people even change during the day - unbelievable. At Crown we are committed to prioritize the establishment of a proper fan club and we hope to have at the start of home games, a good crowd to support us.

Q. Will the new surface at Olympic Stadium improve our football?

A. Oh for sure, the current field is absolute disgraceful, never cut, not maintained, sometimes rocks on it and so on. To get an artificial pitch is not ideal but at least we then have a flat surface to play on. You can see how much better the Academy play when they go overseas and the same was true for our first team when we played in Vietnam, much better football for teams that look at applying a possession-based style of football. FIFA studies show how the level of football improves if you invest in new pitches - this is one of the reasons Crown has a very good training ground and is soon going to have home games on a great pitch. I'm glad the FFC has received the FIFA funding to renovate the Olympic Stadium.

7

Q. How should the FFC improve?
A. The lack of communication is strange. We don’t even know what player is on how many yellow cards. There are no official websites or information online, so it is hard for fans or officials to get news. There are many decisions made by the Federation that should be in agreement with the clubs. Suspensions of players are handled without consulting players and there is no proper way to appeal and so on. In general, the Federation is challenged with a lot of work and limited manpower, so there are many shortfalls. Double standards are something that I can not believe the fans accept, complete injustice or clear wrong decisions I have a hard time to believe the fans and football community are not protesting louder. But I think it is all part of the slow process of developing football in Cambodia. The list of questions I have, concerns I could raise, and wrong doing that I could point to is very long and to address over the media is the wrong way - so I leave it at this. Cambodia needs a reserve league and I am currently designing a proposal to get funding to organize it with Crown and endorsed by the Federation. Hopefully this will be possible soon.

Sam Schweingruber meets Liu Jiangnan at Guangzhou Evergrande Football School

Sam Schweingruber is currently on a FIFA assignment in China, coaching children and their coaches, at the largest football academy in the world, the Guangzhou Evergrande Football School. Here he hands over a Crown jersey to the school president Liu Jiangnan, a former deputy chairman of the Chinese FA. The statistics for the school are dramatic. It cost $115million to build, the 300-acre project is breathtaking in scale: as well as more than 50 football pitches, it boasts an Olympic-size outdoor pool, a supermarket, a cinema, an open-air stadium and four tower blocks which house around 500 full-time staff. There are 2,400 full-time football-playing students, including 200 girls and 126 youth teams at the school, located 50 miles from Guangzhou. The scale is mind-boggling and all designed to make China a football superpower in the future. 

Adriano signs for 1 more year

Adriano Pellegrino with Crown VP Tommy Lim

NEWSFLASH - Adriano Pellegrino, who made such a dramatic impact on the 2nd half of their Championship-winning season, has signed a contract extension to keep him with Phnom Penh Crown for another year. His 3 goals and 12 assists were a major factor in supporting the team to their 5th Cambodian League title success. Head coach Sam Schweingruber had this to say from China, where he's on FIFA assignment. "We are very happy Adriano has accepted the contract extension for the next year and will be with us to help defend our title. Everybody has seen the impact he had during his 3 month spell with us and we are happy that he is going to be on our side for the next campaign, supporting our team with his qualities, experience and leadership." Adriano is pictured with club vice president Tommy Lim and his new contract. The Australian playmaker, aged 30, played A-League football in his home country with Perth Glory and Central Coast Mariner's, as well as spells in Greece and Malaysia and gained 4 caps for Australia's U-20 national team. Here's what the midfielder had to say on his decision to stay:
"I'm very happy and honoured to have signed a new contract with Crown. It's been an amazing past 3 months having joined the club and being crowned champions, now to have signed a new contract, and be a part of the club long-term, I am very much looking forward to it. The club is going in a great direction with Crown competing next season in Asian competitions, new stadium being built, new signings at the club and a great youth program, and I want to be a part of all that in the future to come. I have to make a special mention to head coach Sam who has been sensational since I arrived at Crown. He is a great coach and look forward to working with him in the future to come, in competing and doing well in Asian competitions and also defending our CPL title next season." Adriano is celebrating his 1-year extension with a visit to Siem Reap and the Angkor Temples, one of the places he was looking forward to visiting when he knew he was coming to Cambodia. He also added that he hoped by his remaining in Cambodia, that it might open the door for other Australian players to play in the C-League. "It's an up and coming league and a great stage for more Australian players to play," commented the former A-League star.

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.

Off to China

Sam in Beihai, China this week

Phnom Penh Crown's head coach Sam Schweingruber is in China. He headed out immediately after his team won the Cambodian League Championship on Sunday evening. He's there for four weeks on assignment with FIFA and coaching young children and fellow coaches across the country. This week he's in Beihai in the southern Chinese province of Guangxi. It's actually the world's fastest growing city. He's coaching 25 coaches and 300 children in a city which was hit by their worst Typhoon in 25 years and which killed 31 people only last week. Here he is with some of his students. Next week he's off to Shenyang in northeast China. Certainly he has no time to rest after a long hard season. On his return he will need to click the gears back into action with the club expecting to take part in the Toyota Mekong Club Championship, to be played in Hanoi, Vietnam between 31 October and 2 November this year, involving the champions from 4 countries namely Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.

Sam speaks and more awards

Sam Schweingruber with his son and friend

Phnom Penh Crown head coach Sam Schweingruber gave his view after Sunday's victory over Boeung Ket and the presentation of the medals and trophy to his team. "It was a dominant display. I don't think they really threatened us. Unfortunate that we couldn't come up with a second goal in the first half and George was unlucky not to score when he got injured. We played to our plan, we had a slightly different approach today than normal and it worked well for us. Up after seven minutes or so, they had one situation when we had to change George and our organisation was struggling a bit as my ideas didn't quite work out. We adjusted quickly and had complete control of the game again. Another early goal in the second half and then we know we can sit it out easily enough.
I found it hard to believe how the referee tried to keep the game interesting. The amount of yellow cards we got for nothing, then a red card and a penalty, it makes me laugh, almost as much as Vathanaka getting the MVP award. What has he done, what game has he decided, what influence did he have on this year's league? Certainly not anywhere close to what Sokumpheak has done, what Adriano has done, what a whole bunch of our players have done. I'm shocked, but not surprised at all. As for best coach, I had a strong feeling they would give it to a Cambodian.
We came close last season so it was an obvious progression that we wanted to win it this year. The boss [Rithy Samnang] helped in many ways by getting the people on board we needed, coaching-wise and playing-wise. There were a few games that were close, though today was not a close game, there was only one winner today. The crowd support today was amazing, I wish we'll have this more often. For the players, I'm sad for some who didn't play today and for some who didn't have the impact this season they wanted to but very pleased overall with the performances from everyone involved." 

Ung Kanyanith gets his coach award - photo by Masayori Ishikawa

In addition to the medals and presentation of the Championship trophy to Crown, as well as a cheque for $15,000, there were awards and medals to the runners-up and third-placed teams. Boeung Ket received $11,500 and NagaCorp $9,000. The usual end of season individual awards were also meted out by the football federation and this is where is got interesting, and highly controversial. Everyone expected Sam Schweingruber to collect the Best Coach accolade after guiding his team to the championship with just two defeats in only his second season. The FFC thought otherwise and handed it to Ung Kanyanith, the coach of National Police who finished well down the pecking order in 6th place. No-one can fathom how that decision was based on merit over the league campaign just completed. There was also audible gasps of shock when Chan Vathanaka was called forward to collect the season's Most Valuable Player award. Compared to the performances of outstanding performers like Kouch Sokumpheak, the captain of the league champions and everyone's nailed-on favourite to collect the prize, and others, Vathanaka has spent time on the bench or injured this season and his choice of MVP ranks up there with that of Chea Samnang in 2011. Incomprehensible. The Golden Boot went to Dzarma Bata, who has been banging in goals for fun with Svay Rieng and managed to overtake Crown's George Bisan in the last few weeks of the season. Bata topped the chart with 23 goals, Bisan finished with 20. At least Crown got a look-in when Sou Yaty collected the Best Goalkeeper award and a cheque for 1.5 million riels. Acknowledged as Cambodia's no.1 for a long time now, it was a fair decision for the stopper who picked up his first league medal after joining Crown at the start of the campaign and performed consistently well. Tuy Vichheka led the refereeing team that collected $1,000 as Best Referee group, after what can only be described as a performance in the final game that left many scratching their heads over a series of his decisions. Bottom club Albirex Niigata picked up the Fair Play award, another $1,000 reward that only the FFC control.

Off season activity

The new RSN playing surface before the drains are laid

There is a lot going on at Phnom Penh Crown over the next few months. That's after we are presented with the Metfone C-League Championship trophy this coming Sunday evening at the end of the domestic season. We meet Boeung Ket in our final game at 6pm at Olympic Stadium, with the Championship having already been sealed with two matches to spare. Immediately after the final game, a selection of our players will be training with the Cambodian national team for tournaments in Brunei (U-21 tournament) and in Laos (AFF Suzuki Cup Qualifiers) over the coming months, while head coach Sam Schweingruber will be off to China for four weeks to run a grassroots FIFA training course with hundreds of Chinese youngsters. Our goalkeeping coaches, Prak Vanny and Nguon Chansothea are currently on a FIFA-run goalkeeping course at Tonle Bati, and that's where Academy head coach Bouy Dary will be spending the whole month of August taking his AFC A-Licence coaching course. The Cambodia Youth League at U-15 and U-17 levels is expected to kick-off again in September for a period of three months duration and will include Crown teams at both ages after we won both competitions last time around, an U-13 team including Crown's community youngsters will travel to Incheon in South Korea for a friendship tournament and in the meantime, work will continue on the development of the new RSN Stadium at Tuol Kork. Here's a photo taken at the weekend of the new playing area before we lay the drainage pipes. Looking further ahead it seems the Mekong Cup (for the four champion teams of Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar) will be held in November in Hanoi, but more about that when its finalised. Add into the mix, a few months of wheeling and dealing as Sam Schweingruber looks to tinker with his squad, both foreign and domestic talent, and you have a busy time, considering its supposed to be the off season!

Previewing the game

Sam Schweingruber

Bottom-line, if Phnom Penh Crown beat NagaCorp in tomorrow's late Metfone C-League clash under floodlights at Olympic Stadium, then they will be champions with two games to spare. If they don't win they have games against Svay Rieng and Boeung Ket to get the three points they need to make sure of the title, their first since 2011. Crown head coach Sam Schweingruber gave his thoughts to the Phnom Penh Post this week on tomorrow's mouth-watering clash between the first and third-placed teams.
“We are close to receiving the rewards for our hard work over the last 20 months. Yes, we know that we are facing the strongest opponents of this year for all of our final three matches and will take preparation as seriously as we can and not be affected by the comfortable view of the table. If we approach our game the way we have recently, I am confident we can lift the title as expected by many of our fans. But it will certainly not be easy as each of our opponents will do everything possible to see us stumble. While Naga’s and Boeung Ket's form has recently not been their best, Svay Rieng have shown similar qualities to last year when they were Champions - so we have been warned!”
"For the first time in many months every player is available for selection and I will have to make the right choices for this match, which we will treat as a Final. We have won all our 8 games of the second round and established some good ways to control games and get the results we want. We won't make many changes to the way we have recently played. For our first game with Naga, we were disappointed with the result and at the same time were fortunate as they missed a late penalty. Hopefully we can learn from that and find a way to overcome the best defence of the league (only conceded 13 goals so far) and show that we have the best attack (we've scored 52 goals) and score the goals we need."
"Obviously our foreign players have been important for us, just looking at George's 19 goals, the many assists by Adriano and the defence organised around Tony. Our Cambodian players have also developed very well which is recognized by the national team coach in selecting so many to his squad. In each position we have options and players have to fight for a starting spot, which creates healthy competition. The work rate and discipline of our team is very good and the unity is an additional strong factor. The coaching staff have as a team managed with hard work to get the team on a nice level in all aspects of the game and we are looking forward to further strengthen the ability of Phnom Penh Crown. Difficulties come along during a season, key players are injured or not fit and players suspended, but each time less recognized players have stepped up and did a good job for us."

Reward, suspensions and no hope

Sam Schweingruber picks up the AFC Asia Dream NGO award

Phnom Penh Crown head coach Sam Schweingruber was a speaker at last week's Sports for Development 2014 Conference in Ho Chi Minh City and at the same time was on hand to receive the prestigious AFC Asia Dream NGO Award on behalf of the SALT Academy, an NGO that he founded in Battambang a few years ago and for which he is still a director. He collected the award from AFC General Secretary Dato’ Alex Soosay and commented: “We started with a very small set up and continued to grow with the help of friends. It’s really good to see that the news of our good work has reached AFC and we feel honoured to receive this award. It is really a proud moment to be an NGO of the year and this recognition will surely boost our morale.” A really fabulous achievement for an NGO in northwest Cambodia to receive an award that spans the whole of Asian football. It doesn't get much bigger than this. Well done to SALT and their Mighty Girls, who already have a very close bond with PPCFC.

How remiss of me not to mention the recent announcement by the football federation that they have suspended 3 players from national and domestic football, as a result of an investigation into their activities. Okay, the federation have forgotten to say what those activities were, but the 3 players have been banned from the national team for a year and from domestic league football for six months. It all began when the federation president stopped 4 players and the team manager from travelling to the SEA Games in December, indicating they'd brought dishonour to the team. Six months later comes the verdict. The players who've been suspended are Cambodia national team regulars, Boeung Ket skipper Keo Sokngon, Naga's Sok Rithy and Svay Rieng's Tum Saray. They won't kick a ball in anger for at least six months. Police's Say Piseth and the national team manager are unscathed and their names haven't even been mentioned in the announcement. I think that's the last we will hear of it, unless the federation feel inclined to say more. Which they won't. It's now a closed chapter. And of course not a peep from the head coach on the matter, even though he's lost three important players ahead of October's qualifying rounds of the AFF Suzuki Cup.

The Korean coach of the Cambodia national team has selected 24 players to get together for training in order to see who will represent their country at the Hassanal Bolkiah Trophy to be held in Brunei in August. The competition is at U-21 level with a few over-age players thrown in. Three Phnom Penh Crown players have been invited to the training sessions, Thourng Da, Ngoy Srin and Touch Sokheng. 

This week two teams from Cambodia will take part in the RHB Singapore Cup. C-League reigning champions Svay Rieng meet Albirex Niigata later today, who are one of the top teams in Singapore, they finished 2nd last term and their team consists of all-Japanese players. NagaCorp also put their names down and got into the competition, and they will come up against Home United on Friday, the current holders of the Singapore Cup. I don't hold out any hope that the Cambodian teams will get through these one-off matches. The two Singapore sides are currently in their league's top five places. So no hope at all. If they do, I'll eat a whole Burger King Whopper, and chips.

"Spark of magic"

Adriano Pellegrino

Phnom Penh Crown head coach Sam Schweingruber gave his thoughts on the addition to his squad for the 2nd Round of the Metfone C-League campaign, of the vastly experienced Australian midfield playmaker Adriano Pellegrino. "We were in touch with Adriano a long time ago. We almost signed him at the beginning of the season for a loan period, but decided against it as we didn't know how long he'd be with us. Looking back, we should've signed him, it was a mistake. He came to train with us on several occasions, so we knew what he's capable of, his experience and the potential he still has. He's just 29 and he's played at the top level, he's very motivated and excited to be joining our project this year. He's 100% committed to giving his best for the benefit of the team. He's played at different levels in Australia, was a regular at Perth Glory, though not 100% a regular at Central Coast Mariners, sometimes in, sometimes out, but he played in the AFC Champions League in Japan and China, and has represented Australia at U-20 level. That's a real quality football pedigree. A player of his experience, he also played in Greece and has worked with some amazing coaches, played against top teams as well as playing many different positions, so he can fit different roles on the pitch. He brings leadership, organisation, professionalism, helps others, guides and directs - which we've been extremely weak at up until now. He reads the game really well, makes quick decisions, sees the runs, good with dead balls as we've seen, has a good shot, can dribble, can hold the ball and take people on. He can be that influential player, provide that spark of magic, which is ideal support for our team and just what we need right now."

Adriano will be thirty in June. Adelaide-born, he played his early football with Adelaide City, Adelaide United, Western Strikers and North Eastern Metrostars, as well as a stint in Greece with Panachaiki. In 2008 he joined A-League team Perth Glory for four seasons, before moving to Central Coast Mariners, also in the Australian top flight, where he took his A-League appearances total to just under the 100 mark and played in last season's AFC Champions League. He also appeared for the Central Coast Mariner's Academy team last term. Adriano played a single game for AEU earlier this year on his way to join Kedah in the Malaysian League, but that deal fell through and he's returned to Cambodia to join forces with Crown. He was also capped four times with the Australian U-20 national team.

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.

Litter pickers

The identity of the guy with the fat arse picking up litter is being kept secret at this time, until he goes on a diet

Sabay.com ran a positive news piece today, showing pictures of Phnom Penh Crown coach Sam Schweingruber doing his bit for the environment. Sam is a stickler for tidiness and is always picking up used plastic water bottles and rubbish, whether it's at our own training ground or at the country's football stadiums. It's an example he sets to his team and colleagues and is just one of the good habits that he instils into those around him. As you can see from the top picture, he's got others following in his footsteps. Good for Sabay to pick up the story. A positive feel good message does no-one any harm.

Head coach Sam Schweingruber, leading by example

Looking at tomorrow

Phnom Penh Crown head coach Sam Schweingruber gave his thoughts ahead of his team's Hun Sen Cup clash tomorrow with new boys TriAsia PP, who entered the competition by taking the place of the team representing Kandal province. The game is at Olympic Stadium at 3.30pm. “The Hun Sen Cup is very important to the club. Last year we missed out on the final with a penalty kick exit against Army and hope to do better this year. With the club’s philosophy to develop local talents and by having the strongest youth set up in the country, the all-Khmer Hun Sen Cup is always going to be a big target for coaches and players. Winning a cup is our target for this year. The Metfone C-League will require consistency and long breath; the Hun Sen Cup is a maximum of 6 games, so we really hope to have the right form from the beginning and create a quick momentum that carries us to the finals.”
“I’ve heard some people describe our group as the group of death – which I think is a bit funny. Most pools have 3 teams that play in the MCL and only Pool A is the exception, with Kratie getting to the final stage without even playing a qualification game, and so giving Naga and Boeung Ket a free pass to the next round. Tomorrow’s opponents, TriAsia will be looking to progress to the next round as they have a new team with players brought in from all over. They are experienced and physically strong and will give a very good account of themselves. However, whether they are already at the level of consistency and quality to progress at the expense of either us or Police, we will have to see. The strong second half display against BBU on Saturday certainly shows that they are not an easy opponent and we have to be careful to start with a good performance and a win. We don’t know much about Kompong Chhnang and will have to see how they perform against Police, but for an all-province team, the final stages of the Hun Sen Cup has always been too much of a challenge, so I don’t expect them to be creating any upsets." 

Expectation is high that Elroy van der Hooft, who netted 13 times for Phnom Penh Crown in the second half of last season, will join Boeung Ket later today. The Dutch-born striker, who spent six years at the Ajax Academy, was a revelation last term though he didn't quite manage to help Crown through to the play-off final. He went looking for a team in Indonesia and Thailand in recent weeks but seems to be heading back to the capital, according to the football grapevine.