Crown too good for Laos

PPCFC v Attapeu: Back row, LtoR: Bisan, Boris, Bosma, Pheng, Obadin, Yaty. Front: Pellegrino, Suhana, Sokumpheak (capt), Borey, Srin - click to enlarge

Sunday 2 November 2014: Result: PPCFC 2 Hoang Anh Attapeu – Laos 0 (Toyota Mekong Club Championship 3rd Place play-off).
Crown started on the front foot and took the game to Attapeu in the blistering heat and high humidity, at the Go Dau Stadium in Binh Duong, Vietnam, in this 3rd place play-off. Sos Suhana benefitted from a one-two with Adriano Pellegrino to find space but fired his shot straight at the legs of the Attapeu goalkeeper in the fifth minute. Two minutes later and George Bisan chested down a chip forward by Kouch Sokumpheak but watched in disbelief as his perfectly-timed volley went the wrong side of the upright. Bisan set up Khim Borey but he mis-cued his shot and then the Nigerian striker rattled the cross-bar with a blistering half-volley from just inside the area after latching onto Koen Bosma's perfect center. Not to be denied, Crown's constant pressure paid off on 21 minutes when Adriano Pellegrino’s slide-rule pass was deftly touched under the onrushing keeper by Bisan to put Crown ahead. The Nigerian hotshot celebrated with his trademark somersault. Two similar attempts had been unsuccessful but third time lucky was just what Crown needed. A minute later and Hong Pheng's looping cross saw Bosma challenge the keeper and despite getting his head to the ball, it cleared the cross-bar. Attapeu finally woke up and Sou Yaty had to be alert to touch a Sihavong free-kick around the post. A break through the middle by Lembo Saysana saw him avoid Yaty's lunge but Ngoy Srin was back to clear the danger. Yaty comfortably tipped over a long distance free-kick from Xayyabounsou before Crown re-established their control before the break. Sos Suhana moved onto a Pellegrino pull-back but blasted well over and Bosma's cross was mis-timed over his own bar by Sipasong. The two players were involved in the next action as Bosma's diving header was deflected off the defender for a corner. Another Pellegrino perfect cross on the run was touched inches wide by Bisan and Borey fired a drive across the face of goal and wide as the first-half came to end, peppered with bookings for Borey and Kok Boris.

With the second-half less than a minute old, Yaty's fingertips kept out a snap-shot from Sihavong, and Saysana fired over the top from the edge of the box. A burst past three players by Sokumpheak looked to have set up Pellegrino but the ball carried through to the keeper instead. Seven minutes after the restart and Crown got the second goal their efforts deserved. Borey won the ball and took a return pass from Bosma before sending a cross low skidding to the far post where Bisan was lurking, and he tapped the ball home with glee. Srin was booked for a tug on the shirt of Kettavong as he looked to break free, and Va Sokthorn and Leng Makara were sent on by Sam Schweingruber to liven up the flanks. Xayyabounsou held off Pheng's challenge but fired weakly at Yaty, before Crown thought they'd grabbed a third. Bisan's pull-back saw Sokthorn's shot saved by Soundala but the ball spilled out to Pellegrino who poked the ball into the net. A linesman's flag for offside ruled it out. Attapeu were not a spent force and Sihavong made the point when his free-kick struck the outside of the post from 20 yards. As the ball bounced back into play, Pellegrino sent Sokthorn racing clear from inside his own half, but his 45-yard run was halted as he hesitated and Soundala grabbed the ball off his toes. Yaty had to be alert as Sysoutham broke clear and the keeper's block was enough. At the other end, Sokthorn almost cashed in on a poor defensive header but Soundala was quick to see the danger and raced out to clear. Sokthorn was busy since his introduction and it was his pass to Pellegrino that saw the playmaker try a chip from 22 yards that just cleared the cross-bar. There was still time for Baldwin Ngwa and Ouk Sothy to stretch their legs for a few minutes before Vietnam referee Phung Dinh Dung blew for full time.

In his post-match press conference, Sam Schweingruber explained: "The scoreline didn't really reflect our control of the game. I'm very proud of the performance, good discipline, good composure, we worked the midfield very well and only for a few minutes did we have some issues with our opponents - other than that I believe we were the stronger team, better organised team, better individuals and deserved winners of third place in this competition [and $30,000 in prize money]. We applied our tactics for the game quite well, we were not planning to play as many longs balls as we did - our short passing through the midfield, where we had numerical advantage, and better quality, decided the game. It worked out as we had hoped."
PPCFC v HA Attapeu: Yaty, Pheng, Srin (Da 74), Boris, Obadin, Sokumpheak, Suhana (Sothy 88), Bosma (Sokthorn 64), Borey (Makara 67), Pellegrino, Bisan (Ngwa 84). Subs not used: Ary, Thierry. Bookings: Borey, Boris, Pellegrino. MOTM: Bisan – two goal heroics + MVP. Goals: Bisan 2 (21, 52).

Proud performance

PPCFC v Binh Duong, back row, LtoR: Pheng, Obadin, Bosma, Srin, Ngwa, Yaty. Front: Pellegrino, Boris, Sokthorn, Sothy, Sokumpheak (capt) - click to enlarge

Friday 31 October 2014: Result: Becamex Binh Duong 5 Phnom Penh Crown 2 (Toyota Mekong Club Championship semi-final).
Crown gave a fighting performance tonight at the home of Binh Duong and should be proud of themselves for causing the V-League champions so many problems. It was a very close run game until two goals late in the game flattered the eventual winners. After both sets of players were left to get cold with never-ending pre-match speeches and introductions, it was Binh Duong who caught Crown cold with a goal after a minute and 19 seconds on the clock. Nguyen Trong Hoang's corner fell at the feet of Dieng Abass, he made himself a yard and his shot took a wicked deflection of Kok Boris to leave Sou Yaty with no chance. Crown marched straight up the other end and Koen Bosma's shot was deflected for a corner. Next an Adriano Pellegrino free-kick was finger-tipped off a queue of waiting heads for a corner by lanky keeper Bui Tan Truong. Yaty was alert to the space Oseni Bolaji found himself and the Crown keeper kept gout his shot with his legs. With play switching ends, Va Sokthorn was flagged offside after Baldwin Ngwa's backheel put him free inside the box. Crown's chance to equalise appeared to arrive on 19 minutes as Bosma played Pellegrino into space on the left, his tantalising center was touched goalwards by the outstretched leg of Ngwa but the ball agonisingly sailed the wrong side of the upright. Yaty was again in the thick of it as he blocked a close range attempt by Abass from Bolaji's center, and then acrobatically caught a cross from Le Tan Tai. With 4 minutes of the first-half remaining, Binh Duong cracked open Crown through the middle and despite an initial stop from Yaty on Nguyen Anh Duc, Hoang poked the ball into the unguarded net. There was still time for Bosma to head a Pellegrino cross over the bar as Au Van Hoan applied pressure on the Dutchman.

Crown came out fighting at the start of the second-half and took the game to the home team. Va Sokthorn had a shot saved from Ngwa's lay-back with just 48 seconds on the clock, Pellegrino shaved the paint off the post with a ferocious drive from Bosma's pass, and the Dutchman had a drive blocked on the edge of the box. A 25-yard free-kick from Bosma deflected off the wall for a corner, and Sokthorn played in Ngwa, who cut inside but Truong was equal to his well-struck shot and punched the ball out of danger. Le Cong Vinh entered the fray and immediately found room only to shoot weakly at Yaty, but it was Crown who finally reaped the rewards for their pressure. On 66 minutes Bosma was on hand to tap home at the far post from Hong Pheng's perfect delivery across the face of goal. Kouch Sokumpheak weaved past three defenders but Ngwa's shot was blocked but with 20 minutes to go, Binh Duong knocked the wind out of Crown's sails with a scrappy third goal, Oseni Bolaji bending low to head in near the foot of the post, after Cong Vinh had headed down a cross from Hoang. As the game bounced from end to end, George Bisan came on for Ngwa with thirteen minutes to go and within fifteen seconds was thwarted by a defenders heel, as he played a neat 1-2 with Pellegrino. Moments later, Ngoy Srin's headed pass gave Bisan another opportunity, but he was a foot wide with his looping finish. As both teams made a flurry of personnel changes, Binh Duong made sure of the win when a quick break allowed Le Cong Vinh to rifle the ball into the roof of the net from an Abass pass, with two minutes to go. Crown were caught again in the 91st minute, another breakaway and Abass again found Nguyen Tang Tuan, who had time to pick his spot for number five with a neat curling shot. Not to be denied, Crown refused to give up and Leng Makara's run and cross was headed in by Bisan from close range in the fourth minute of stoppage time, to close out the game at 5-2, as referee Surasak from Thailand blew for full-time.

Sam Schweingruber gave this reaction at the final whistle to the packed press room: "When you have a game plan and everyone knows what you want to do, and after 2 minutes you are already 1-zero down, your plan is all messed up. I am extremely proud of the reaction my team showed in the first 25 minutes of the 2nd half - we were dominant and created quite a lot of good chances but were unlucky not to equalise at that stage. In a cup semi-final, losing 2-1 or 5-2 is not much of a difference, and you can see at the end we made changes and pushed up, gave everything and unfortunately it wasn't enough. We played a very strong team, compliments to our opponents, they have good individual skills and a good understanding of each other. I think I was most impressed today with the performance of the goalkeeper. We are usually quite good on our set pieces and you could see how comfortable he was in dealing with our crosses and corner kicks. I was also impressed with their striking force, good runs and dangerous when they had the ball." Crown will now meet the other beaten semi-finalist, Hoang Anh Attapeu, who lost 5-4 on penalties to Ayeyawady after a 1-1 draw on 90 minutes, in the 3rd-place play-off on Sunday.
PPCFC v Binh Duong: Yaty, Pheng (Makara 83), Srin (Da 82), Boris, Obadin, Sothy (Thierry 72), Sokumpheak, Sokthorn (Borey 66), Bosma, Pellegrino, Ngwa (Bisan 77). Subs not used: Ary, Suhana. Bookings: Pellegrino, Obadin. MOTM: Pellegrino. Goals: Bosma (66), Bisan (90+4).

PPCFC prepare

Kouch Sokumpheak answers the questions from Bayon TV

I've been a bit busy with Phnom Penh Crown preparing for their battle of the century with the Vietnam League champions Becamex Binh Duong at 8pm tonight, here in Binh Duong, just outside Ho Chi Minh. I'll bring you the result later but its live on Bayon TV at 8pm in Cambodia, so make sure you watch it. Here the Bayon TV boys are interviewing the Crown captain Kouch Sokumpheak, at training last night. Also a snap of the team before they left Phnom Penh airport en route for Vietnam. We arrived late on Wednesday, managed a training session on the pitch last night and now we're getting focused on tonight's semi-final in the new Toyota Mekong Club Championship. We've been paired with the favourites so we have the toughest game of all.

The PPCFC team before flying out for Vietnam

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.

Friendly and with the press

Khim Borey (red) with Becamex's Nguyen Anh Duc earlier today

Eight players from Phnom Penh Crown will be in the mix to play against the visiting Japan Football League team at Olympic Stadium in tomorrow's friendly match, kick off at 4pm. The JFL, from the country's fourth tier of football which hosts their best amateur clubs, have already beaten the Laos U-23s and met Myanmar U-23s, and arrive in Phnom Penh for a match against the senior Cambodia team, who are in training camp for their AFF Suzuki Cup qualifying games in mid-October. The 8 players include Bin Thierry, who returned to the squad earlier this week after his knee injury cleared up sufficiently for him to resume training. The others are Sou Yaty, Ngoy Srin, Hong Pheng, Kouch Sokumpheak, Ouk Sothy, Kok Boris and Sos Suhana.

This morning saw Khim Borey and general secretary Ly Heang represented Phnom Penh Crown at the press launch in Hanoi, of the Toyota Mekong Club Championship competition. A well-attended press conference took place with Borey rubbing shoulders with Becamex Binh Duong striker, Nguyen Anh Duc, a regular in the Vietnam national team and with Becamex for many seasons. Crown will meet Becamex in the semi final at the Vietnam champions home ground on 31 October. The other semi-final is between HAGL Attapeu (Laos) and Ayeyawady United (Myanmar); with the final due on 2 November. Substantial prize money of $75,000 goes to the winning team.

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

Crown invited to join

The formal invitation to PPCFC

Phnom Penh Crown were officially invited to join the upcoming Toyota Mekong Club Championship 2014 at a ceremony at the Olympic Stadium this afternoon. Hao Tien, the Vice President of Toyota Motors joined with Crown President Rithy Samnang and FFC General Secretary Kul Sophana to mark the invitation for the tournament that will be held in Ho Chi Minh City with the champions of 4 Mekong countries - Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar. It promises to be an intriguing tournament, the first of its kind, from 31 Oct-2 Nov. Word on the terraces is that the Vietnamese champions, Becamex Binh Duong have been drawn against Crown in the semi-final. The winning team will receive prize money of $75,000 with the runners-up receiving $50,000, third place $30,000 and 4th place $10,000. Joining the officials at the ceremony were Crown stars Kouch Sokumpheak and Bin Thierry, taking time off their national team duties, and head coach Sam Schweingruber.

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.

V-League champs win 4 Billion

Binh Duong celebrate their 3rd V-League championship success

Becamex Binh Duong became champions of the Vietnam League at the weekend with a game to go, to become the first team to claim three V-League championships. They might also claim the National Cup with a final against Hai Phong in two weeks time. Binh Duong is in the southeast of the country, immediately above Ho Chi Minh City, and their success this season, they finished 8th last term, has been built on a solid defensive unit that has conceded just 22 goals in 23 matches and a team where goals come from all quarters. The average attendance across the V-League this season has been a little over 7,600. Binh Duong will be heading to Hanoi at the end of October to join Phnom Penh Crown in the Toyota Mekong Club Championship, which opens up a mouth-watering proposition. As champions of the V-League, they will collect prize money of US$188,000 (or 4 Billion dong), which is light years in front of the paltry US$15,000 Crown received for winning the Metfone Cambodian League. In fact the C-League and its neighbours in Laos, where champions HAGL Attapeu won the title last week and took home just US$12,500, fall way behind the prize money on offer in the rest of the Southeast Asian top divisions. In Singapore the champions will get a winners cheque for at least US$200,000, the Thai Premier League champions will get even more, upwards of US$300,000, while the Malaysian champs get a little under US$100,000. Big money thanks to cash flowing in from a flotilla of sponsors and backers. The Cambodian League has a long way to play catch-up as far as the monetary benefits of winning the championship are concerned.

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.

Toyota splash the cash

News came through last week that the champions of 4 Mekong region countries - namely Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam - will contest a brand new competition, the Toyota Mekong Club Championship, to be played at the Hang Day Stadium in Hanoi, Vietnam between 31 October and 2 November this year. Toyota, the world's largest car maker, have been spreading their wealth around in recent times, including the World Cup, AFC Asian Cup and the Thai Premier League and this is another string to their marketing bow it seems. In conjunction with the title sponsorship, Toyota are also launching the ‘Toyota Mekong Football Challenge’ to inspire and groom young talented footballers. Not sure how that will work, but that's the plan. Whoever wins the Metfone C-League, it looks like their players will have a busy off-season period with the Cambodia national team due to play in Laos in the AFF Suzuki Cup qualifying tournament from 12-20 October. If Cambodia progress, the finals will start at the end of November, with this new club competition squeezed in between. There is also the U-21 competition in Brunei, the Hassanal Bolkiah Trophy, which will be in August. There was also some talk of starting the C-League earlier as well though nothing more has been said about that.