Cup Final fever

The Army win the Hun Sen Cup for the 1st time beating Phnom Penh Crown 3-2

No-one can deny that the football served up by the Hun Sen Cup competition this season didn't produce excitement, entertainment, suspense and goals galore, as well as yellow and red cards sprinkled around like confetti. And today's cup final was no exception. It has been a great precursor to the league season which should kick off in a couple of weeks time and for the Ministry of National Defense - the team that has no foreign imports in their squad, who were unable to play in the cup competition - to win gives some credence that they are the best Khmer team in the country, especially beating the moneybags of Phnom Penh Crown.
Before the game, which kicked off in temperatures around 38 degrees, we were treated to live singers, a big crowd turned up (over 16,000), many of whom were in khaki Army fatigues to counteract the massed ranks of Crown supporters in red, the guest of honour was the city's governor and the stage was set for a cup final to remember. We weren't disappointed with the suspense maintained until the final kick of the match when MND netted an injury-time winner to claim the cup for the first time. With three added minutes on the clock, they were awarded a free-kick which Ieng Piseth swung high into the Crown penalty area and where Thong Oudom outjumped everyone else to loop his header into the net, immediately being pulled to the ground and mobbed by his teammates. There was just enough time for Crown to restart the game before referee Tuy Vicheka blew to spark celebrations worthy of any cup final success.

MND started positively from the kick-off in searing heat against a weakened Crown line-up, shorn of four regulars through suspension. On 25 minutes they got their noses in front after dogged wing-play from Phuong Soksana. He bustled his way past three defenders and his low centre was rifled into the roof of the net by Sin Dalin to send one half of the audience into raptures. I watched for some reaction from the ranks of the Army regulars but they sat there, rather stoically, simply clapping their colleague's success. Crown finally awoke from their lethargy late in the half with a rather fortunate equaliser. Thong Oudom's headed clearance struck Chan Chhaya and his quick reaction shot was deflected into the path of Heng Sokly, who couldn't miss the target from five yards out.

The second half mirrored the first with MND making all the early running and twenty minutes in, they recaptured their lead through substitute Chhin Chhoeurn. On the pitch for five minutes after replacing the injured Nov Soseila, he stole in at the far post to add the finishing touch as everyone else failed to react to a 40-yard free-kick from Khek Khemarin that sailed into the Crown penalty box. With players finding the heat unbearable, both sides used up their allotment of substitutions and it looked as though MND would hold out for their first-ever cup success. That was until with just a minute remaining, their goalkeeper Samreth Seiha miscued a routine clearance straight to Chan Rithy who rolled the ball into the unguarded net from 25 yards out. Seiha was inconsolable - even after the final whistle when he found it hard to celebrate with his teammates - though with just seconds remaining, Thong Oudom loped upfield and settled the cup final result with his winning header to cue jubilant celebrations.

MND collected their medals from Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema as well as a cheque for 80 million riel, with Phnom Penh Crown picking up half that amount and 3rd place Preah Khan Reach taking home 20 million riel and the Fair Play Award of 5 million. Collecting individual awards of 1 million riel apiece were the competition's joint top scorers with 18 goals, Kuoch Sokumpheak of Khemara Keila and Srey Veasna of Phnom Penh, with Crown's Peng Bunchhay picking up the best goalkeeper accolade.

The Phnom Penh Crown line-up before the cup final begins

Salute the cup winners

The Ministry of Defense team celebrate after their dramatic late cup success

The Army pulled off the cup shock most people were hoping for but they left it very late and nearly blew it before scoring the winner in a 3-2 success in the Hun Sen Cup Final with the last kick of the game. Phnom Penh Crown got back into the match when Chan Rithy was presented with a gift from Army keeper Samreth Seiha, a minute from time but the stopper could breathe again when Thong Oudom loped forward for a free kick in the dying seconds and saw his header loop over the despairing dive of the Crown keeper for the match winner. On the balance of play the Army just about deserved it and the entertaining game was in keeping with some of the exciting football served up by this season's cup competition. I'll post a full match report later but just to repeat that final score, Ministry of National Defense 3 - 2 Phnom Penh Crown.

The Army boys take the plaudits after the cup is handed over

Army skipper Khim Borey collects his winners medal from Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema

You wouldn't believe it but Mr Cool, Thong Oudom had just scored the winner in the cup final

The competition's top hotshot with 18 goals, Kuoch Sokumpheak with a former striker, now washed-up and only capable of writing about the game!

Naga in President's Cup

This Naga line-up, plus their foreign imports, will play in the AFC President's Cup in May

Naga Corp, as CPL champions last season, will represent Cambodia in the AFC President's Cup in May, a competition for the top club teams from the third tier of AFC-ranked countries. On Friday, they were drawn in Group B with games to be played between 6-16 May against the champions of other emerging nations, Tajikistan (FC Vakhsh), Sri Lanka (Renown Sports Club) and Pakistan (Khan Research Laboratories) at a venue yet to be decided. Phnom Penh Crown represented Cambodia in last year's competition, losing twice before winning their last game. FC Vakhsh will be the toughest opponents for Naga, as they were the beaten finalists in the competition in 2006 and won their league title by beating the powerhouse team of Regar TadAZ. Favourites to win the cup this time around will be Kyrgyzstan champions Dordoi, who won Crown's group last year but lost in the final to Regar. There are eleven teams competing, divided into three groups with the group champions and the best runners-up qualifying for the finals.
The games will come just two months into the new Cambodia Premier League season, which is likely to begin on Saturday 27th March, though no official announcement has yet been made. Yes I know its only 3 weeks away but that's how it's done around here. Everything is last minute, seat of the pants stuff.
The new Phnom Penh Post weekly sports edition, only in the Khmer language, appeared on Friday and free copies were handed out to attendees at yesterday's cup game at Olympic Stadium. There was in-depth coverage of the Hun Sen Cup, other football leagues around the globe, a spotlight on teenage international Keo Sokngorn showing readers the technique of the 'rainbow kick' - which I've never heard of - and kick-boxing. The sports mad Khmer fans in the stadium lapped it up.

PKR grab 3rd spot

Heang Saravuth was the matchwinner for Preah Khan in today's 3rd place decider

Today's 3rd place play-off in the Hun Sen Cup saw Preah Khan Reach run out 3-2 winners in a nail-biter against Naga Corp. With two of the country's best teams facing each other, it was always going to be a close affair and so it proved though Naga began like a train and with 2 goals from Kop Isa in a frantic three minute spell, they took a stranglehold of the tie and looked a good bet at the half-time interval. Both teams left two of their best players on the bench, Sun Sovannrithy for Naga and Sam El Nasa for PKR, and that gave Kop Isa a rare opportunity to start. His two goals, on 15 and 18 minutes, justified his inclusion. His first was a neat and tidy finish after a Teab Vatanak header sent him on a clear run at goal. He fired home his second from eight yards after Kim Chanbunrith's byline pull back found him in space. After the goals, PKR brought on Sam El Nasa and his introduction gave them more impetus, but Naga's keeper Pich Rovin Yothin was in great form with some brave saves, getting a foot in the face twice, for his troubles.
Ten minutes in the second half, Naga's Vatanak had his low drive through a ruck of players saved by the feet of PKR keeper Ouk Mic but PKR were upping their game and reduced the deficit five minutes later. With Sam El Nasa pushed up front, it was the former national team captain that netted with a calm finish from Kao Kiry's pass. The writing was on the wall as PKR put on the pressure and on 72 minutes, Khuon Laboravy had the easiest of finishes after Heang Saravuth had broken clear and unselfishly squared it to his teammate. Seven minutes later and Saravuth scored PKR's third, albeit with a fluke of a finish after he mis-controlled a pass from Prak Mony Udom and lobbed the ball over the onrushing Pich Rovin Yothin, almost by accident. Less than a minute later, Naga were given the opportunity to level the scoreline. Sovannrithy, a replacement early in the second half, was tapped by Sok Rithy and referee Khuon Virak couldn't wait to point to the spot. There was no way anyone apart from Sovannrithy was going to take the penalty but his spot-kick wasn't the best and Ouk Mic dived low to his left to smother his shot. Penalty kicks have come to haunt Naga in this competition, after they lost to them in last week's semi-final. PKR's Sam El Nasa was shown his second yellow, and a red card with six minutes to go but Naga had already had the stuffing knocked out of them and PKR ran out 3-2 winners, earning themselves 20 million riel. Referee Virak had a busy day too, flashing 9 yellows and that late red card.

Preah Khan, bedecked in their red kit, came back from a 2-goal deficit to win

Naga Corp came out guns blazing but couldn't hold onto their advantage

Referee Khuon Virak keeps a close eye on his coin as the captains await his call

Q&A with tribalfootball.com

Scott O'Donell

TribalFootball.com has an interview with Cambodia's national football coach Scott O'Donell online today. The interviewer is Andrew Slevison.

Q&A with Cambodia national team coach Scott O'Donell
The Australian football public would not know much about Scott O’Donell. The 42-year old New South Welshman is a former player who represented a few NSW Premier League clubs in and around Sydney before making the move to Malaysia as a 27-year old. Since then has played in Malaysia and Singapore and is currently in his second stint as head coach of the Cambodia national football team. tribalfootball.com caught up with O’Donell to discuss certain aspects of his footballing life along with the status of football in Asia and upcoming plans for the Cambodia team, otherwise known as The Royals.

tf.com: How did you get over to Asia in the first place? Was it purely for football or were you also interested in other things such as the culture, lifestyle etc?
SO’D: I first went to Malaysia in 1994. I had always wanted to play football full-time. At the time I was playing for Parramatta Melita in the NSL (National Soccer League) and teaching economics and business studies in Sydney’s western suburbs. When the opportunity came, I jumped at it. I was coached by former Chelsea player and manager Ken Shellito at Kuala Lumpur and had a relatively successful season. Parramatta loaned me to KL for the season and I came back to play the last few NSL games in 1995 under Washington Gonzales. After Parramatta were subsequently kicked out of the NSL for the 95/96 season, I signed for Tampines Rovers FC for the inaugural S-League season in Singapore.
I played for four seasons in Singapore before getting my coaching licenses back in Australia before commencing my coaching career at Geylang United. After Geylang, I was offered the Cambodian national coaching position in 2005. I jumped at the chance because my two daughters (Emma and Ellie) were adopted from Cambodia and we always intended to try and go back and live there one day, so it worked out well.

tf.com: Can you identify the major differences between football in Australia and football in Asia, predominantly in Cambodia where you are based now and in Malaysia and Singapore where you played?

SO’D: There is no doubt that the football in Australia is a lot more physical. The level of professionalism has also greatly improved compared to the old NSL. The A-League is light years ahead of the NSL. Technically, I don’t think there is a big difference between the better players in South East Asia and Australia. Professional football in Cambodia is in its infancy. We have a professional league and have foreign players but the standard is fairly average. Having said that, the competitiveness and the quality is slowly improving. A lack of youth development in years gone by certainly hasn’t helped.
Malaysian football has struggled over the last decade or so. When I first went there, there were Australian internationals like Darren Stewart, Alan Davidson, Alistair Edwards and Abbas Saad playing, the crowds were great and the press coverage was unbelievable. But it has gone downhill fast. There are no foreigners anymore, the crowds are poor and the media coverage is too. There are some very good players and hopefully the success they had at the SEA (South East Asian) Games last year will help kick-start Malaysian football. They have great facilities and a great passion for football.
The S-League has constantly struggled to get crowds. It is one of the best organised leagues in South East Asia. Most of the clubs are very well run but it struggles to compete with the English Premier League, which is hugely popular in Singapore. In the first year of the S-League, the crowds were good, it was a new league and like Malaysia, there were some very good foreigners like Vlado Bosinovski, Ernie Tapei, Ivan Kelic and some excellent foreigners from Croatia, Iran and Brazil. Unfortunately the quality of foreigners has declined and the interest seems to be waning. One of the benefits of the S-League has been the rise to prominence of the Singapore national team under Serbian coach Raddy Avramovic. The S-League has allowed more players to become professional players therefore giving Raddy more players to choose from. The standard is not bad. SAFFC (Singapore Armed Forces) have qualified for their second successive AFC Champions League, which I think, is a reflection of the quality of the S-League.

tf.com: What’s planned for Cambodia national team in the next six to twelve months? Do you envisage staying in the role or are you likely to move on?
SO’D: The Cambodian national team have the opening rounds of the Asian qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup in early October as well as the Suzuki Cup (ASEAN Football Championships) qualifiers at the end of October in Laos. My current contract ends in May 2010. I will be having discussions with the Federation in the coming weeks and will see what transpires. I would love the chance to come back and work in Australia but as you know, full-time opportunities in football are fairly limited. I have had approaches from other clubs in the region but I have not confirmed anything yet.

tf.com: You have worked closely with the AFC. Have you seen an improvement in Asian football over the past few years and if so, what have been the main factors for this improvement?
SO’D: I really enjoyed my time as director of coach education at AFC. Without a doubt I think there has been a massive improvement in Asian football. I think Australia would be the first to admit that competing in Asia is not as easy as many first though. (AFC) President Hammam has been instrumental in implementing policies and projects aimed at improving football across Asia. The Japans and Koreans can look after themselves but countries like Uzbekistan and Vietnam are really taking off. Improvements in coach education, club administration, referees and overall professionalism is taking football in Asia to greater heights. I think Uzbekistan is a country to watch out for in the coming years. They have a group of passionate people working to improve all aspects of football and they have the money to employ the likes of (Luiz Felipe) Scolari and (ex-Brazil star) Rivaldo to help raise the profile of football. The AFC Champions League is also gaining in popularity and is great for the Australian clubs and players to travel across Asia to experience playing in different conditions against different styles of play.

tf.com: Do you look back on your time with Tampines Rovers (particularly) and other Asian clubs with fondness and would you suggest it worthwhile for Australian players to experience Asian football?
I really enjoyed my time playing in Asia. The opportunity to play full-time and to play with and against other foreign and local players was a challenge that I enjoyed. I think the 3+1 rule has definitely opened the door for more Australian players to play in Asia. Players like (Brendon) Santalab and (Joel) Griffiths are doing well and hopefully that will open the door for more Australian players in Asia. I think if you asked the players like Peter Bennett, Alex Duric, PJ Roberts and Santalab who all played for me at Geylang United, they would all say that they enjoyed their time playing in Singapore.
Playing for Tampines was very enjoyable. They are a real community club based in the east of Singapore. They have very loyal supporters who are very passionate. They have gone from strength to strength in recent years and have achieved a great deal of success under the chairmanship of Teo Hock Seng, a successful businessman in Singapore. With full-time playing opportunities in Australia being limited, I would strongly advise young players who have not yet been signed by A-League clubs, to head to countries like Singapore to gain some experience. Singapore is a great place to live and the Aussie boys would have no problems adapting to life in Singapore. There is some decent money in some of the other South East Asian league like Vietnam and Indonesia and the quality is good.

Weekend matches

Just had confirmation of this weekend's final round of Hun Sen Cup matches. The 3rd/4th place decider will take place at 3pm on Saturday between Naga Corp and Preah Khan Reach. The actual cup final will also kick-off at 3pm but on Sunday (7th March) and will pitch Phnom Penh Crown, the favourites, against the military might of the Ministry of National Defense. I believe they are on separate days so they can both be televised live, but don't hold me to that.

What colour do you prefer?

Thong Chankethya loves his cards, but Meas Channa shows his disdain for the official's decision. Photo www.nicksellsphotography.com

A sight all too prevalent in recent matches in Cambodian football. Referee Thong Chankethya brandishes a yellow card at Naga's Meas Channa, one of fourteen, yes 14, that he flashed during Saturday's Phnom Penh Crown v Naga Corp cup semi-final. Oh, and he also issued 2 red cards as well. This referee really loves to write reports. It follows a couple of weeks after debutant referee Yien Kivatanak flashed 9 yellows, sent off 4 players from Kirivong and also whipped out two more red cards, but changed his mind and let the players stay on the pitch. Incredible. I really really want to talk about the great games, goals, skills and excitement on show but the refereeing statistics are getting in the way all too often. Obviously the players have to take their share of the blame - I think clubs in the UK face a heavy fine if six or more players are booked in one game - so that's something the Football Federation might consider in order to curb the player's over-the-top enthusiasm but something also needs to be done to lessen the match officials' penchant for yellow and red card waving too. It's a reporters' nightmare trying to keep track of the yellow card count especially when Thong Chankethya is the man in the middle.

Press talk

The whole of the inside back page of today's Phnom Penh Post carries my reports

I write football match reports for the English-language newspaper Phnom Penh Post and you can read my view on Saturday's Hun Sen Cup ties online later today. I've no idea why the editor got the idea that Crown beat Naga 7-6 on penalties, as it was clearly 4-3 to everyone that was present, including me. Reports. The PPP have come a long way from November 2008 when I wrote to the editor, and they published my letter, bemoaning the complete absence of local sports coverage, especially football. Nowadays they do Cambodian football a great service, with match previews, match reports, photos, midweek news stories, lots of coverage of the international team and so on. You've got to hand it to them, they provide a level of local and national sports coverage that their rivals simply can't compete with. And very soon they will expand that with a weekly Khmer language edition sports supplement. Hats off to the PPP. Obviously, I have a vested interest but you can't argue with the facts.

Get a grip

"Mummy, where's my dummy?"

It makes me so angry. I'm talking about the farce that played out a few minutes before half-time in the first of the Hun Sen Cup semi-finals yesterday at Olympic Stadium. Naga were three goals down and got pissed off when Sun Sovannrithy went down in the jostling before a corner kick, claiming an elbow from Crown's Lor Pichseyla. I don't believe the referee saw the incident but he brandished a yellow card to Pichseyla anyway. He's that sort of referee, happy to dish out cards willy-nilly, regardless of the effect it has later in the game. However, the reaction of the Naga team, fuelled by their team manager, was to walk to the touchline and wait for instructions whilst the manager called who knows on his mobile. Probably his mum. Asking her where he'd left his dummy.
Om Thavrak and Meas Channa took off their shirts, the rest of the players looked non-plussed, officials from the Cambodian Football Federation appeared, went away, returned and went away again shaking their heads, and still the team manager was on the phone. After twelve minutes of complete stupidity, someone made Naga see sense, they put their shirts back on and returned to the pitch. The game continued for a couple of minutes before the half-time whistle was blown.
I wasn't pitchside so I don't know why the Naga team changed their minds and ended their mini sit-down. A realization that they looked complete pricks may've been part of it. Or a threat to expel them from future cup competitions might have been another. All I know is that it makes Naga and Cambodian football look so amateurish, as it did when Phnom Penh Crown did the same trick in last season's play-offs. No one club is bigger than the rules of the game. There is no room for throwing your dummy out of the cot in such an irresponsible fashion. I saw at the SEA Games when this type of behaviour goes unchecked. The Malaysian team physically attacked the referee, and yet they were still able to stay in the competition, and won it, god forbid. The game's administrators have to come down hard on this type of conduct or teams and players will continue to push the edge of this particular envelope and it will all end in tears. The game will suffer and so will my enjoyment.

The Naga players hog the touchline waiting for instructions

The Naga manager decides on the fate of the cup semi-final, whilst everyone else sits on their hands

Naga skipper Om Thavrak (right) and match referee Thong Chankethya suffering from stress. All photos courtesy of www.nicksellsphotography.com

The 2nd SF line-ups

The Ministry of National Defense line-up before their semi-final success: LtoR: Udom, Borin, Soksana, Piseth, Rady, Borey (c): Khemarin, Dalin, Kumpheak, Seiha, Virak

Pre-match pics from the 2nd semi-final on Saturday, which saw the Defense Ministry cause of bit of a surprise by beating Preah Khan Reach 1-nil. They now face Phnom Penh Crown in next weekend's Hun Sen Cup final.

The red shirts of Preah Khan Reach before the game, which they lost 1-nil: LtoR: Udom, Raksmey, Rithy, Chanrasmey, Mic, Saravuth, Thuon, El Nasa, Narith, Saray, Kiri

The second semi-final was played under floodlights at Olympic Stadium

Can you feel it?

Phnom Penh Crown players take their bow at the end of their semi-final success

I think you can get a sense of the happiness exuding from the Phnom Penh Crown players and staff at the conclusion of their penalty shoot-out semi-final win against Naga Corp on Saturday.

Phuong Narong took off his shirt and ran to the touchline after scoring the winning penalty

Overcome with emotion, Crown's Phuong Narong was in tears at the end of the cup tie

It's all hugs and smiles for Crown after their 4-3 penalty win over Naga Corp

The Crown players take a minute to calm down after the emotional rollercoaster of the penalty shoot-out

Pre-match photos

Phnom Penh Crown line-up before the semi-final. LtoR: Sophana, Tiny, Sokngorn, Bunchhay, Pichseyla, Veasna, Sovannara, Chhaya, Sokly, Sothearith (c), Virath

Pre-match snaps from the incident-packed Phnom Penh Crown v Naga Corp semi-final on Saturday afternoon.

Naga Corp before the start of their casino-backed semi-final against PPCrown. LtoR: Sovannrithy, Channa, Chenla, Soto, Sokhom, Thavrak (c), Chom, Veasna, Vatanak, Sophy, Chanthan

My ongoing series of 'Great Toss-Ups of our Time' gets another headliner before the start of the Crown v Naga semi-final. The captains are Thul Sothearith in red and Om Thavrak (Naga).

After the Lord Mayor's Show

The second of the Hun Sen Cup semi-finals this afternoon was a case of After the Lord Mayor's Show, with Preah Khan Reach the clear favourites to beat the boys from the Ministry of National Defense, but the tables were turned when the Army ran out 1-0 victors. But it wasn't exactly a game to remember. In Samreth Seiha, MND have the country's top keeper and his safe handling and two worthy saves in the 2nd half ensured his team kept a clean sheet, his reaction stop to deny Sam El Nasa's close range effort was the pick of the game. MND grabbed their match winning goal on 27 minutes when teenager Oum Kumpheak stole in at the far post to rifle home a corner from Suong Virak. It was a fitting strike from the U23 international, who stood out amongst his peers in this game. The closest PKR came to levelling was a Khuon Laboravy free-kick that rebounded back off the crossbar, but to be frank they looked toothless and bereft of ideas and the Army march onto next weekend's final. Judging by their post match celebrations, you got the hint that they were a teeny bit pleased.

Comeback of comebacks - not quite

Let's relive the first of today's Hun Sen Cup semi-finals, just to give you an idea of how exciting it was. The clash of the titans, between the casino-backed teams of Phnom Penh Crown and Naga Corp, kicked off at 2.30pm. It was at least 35 degrees and you've got to give credit to both teams for playing in that furnace. The crowd was a good one, at least 6 or 7,000, the band was back in the stands and Crown were bolstered by the return to the side of their teenage starlet Keo Sokngorn, and their coach, was has returned from a stint in Thailand. Crown won the cup last year, beating Naga 1-0 in the final but it was Naga who capped the season as league champions to gain their revenge.

The early exchanges were straightforward enough before Crown took control with 3 goals in a seven-minute spell, catching Naga all at sea and cutting them to ribbons before we were 20 minutes into the game. On 13 minutes, Sokngorn announced his return when he coolly rolled the ball into an unguarded net from 3o yards out after Naga stopped for an offside flag that never came. Five minutes later, he was at it again, selling a dummy to Om Thavrak and rifling the ball into the roof of the net for his second. Naga lost the ball on the half-way line and failed to cut out a pass to Chan Chhaya, who stepped inside and fired a third across the face of keeper Chom Veasna. The bookings started to mount up and Crown keeper Peng Bunchhay showed his nerves when he dropped a routine catch onto the foot of Sun Sovannrithy, who managed to spoon it over the bar from a yard out. The match descended into farce a few minutes before the interval when Sovannrithy went down clutching his face, claiming he'd been elbowed by Lor Pichseyla, who was booked in the incident. The Naga manager called his players to the touchline and threatened a walk-off before Federation officials persuaded him to change his mind and send his players back out to complete the half. It echoed a similar incident in the play-offs last season, when Crown actually did walk off the pitch. The delay had lasted 12 minutes and Naga, three goals behind at the time, took on the role of 'spoilt brats' that Crown had made their own up til then.

The 2nd half was a very different story. Ten minutes in and Naga grabbed a lifeline when Chek Sokhom's floated 40 yard cross sailed over the flailing arms of Bunchhay and into the roof of the net. The jittery keeper made amends with a couple of good diving saves but Naga continued to press. On 75 minutes they were well and truly back in the tie when Sovannrithy, recently converted to a striking role and revelling in the limelight, neatly controlled and fired in an over the top pass from Kim Chanbunrith. With 5 minutes to go, Pichseyla inexplicably handed in the area, received a red card and allowed Naga's sub Chanbunrith to fire home the equaliser from the penalty spot. It was a comeback worthy of any cup semi-final.

Four minutes into extra time, both sides were down to 10-men when Naga skipper Om Thavrak went for an early bath for a senseless late tackle. Bookings continued to mount up - referee Thong Chankethya ended up flashing 14 yellows and 2 reds. It seems to me that Cambodian referees love to write reports after their games as they can't help penciling way too many names into their notebooks. Both teams hit the post in extra time, Chin Chom for Naga, Tieng Tiny for Crown, before Naga were handed the opportunity to record the comeback of all comebacks with a minute to go. Sovannrithy was clattered by Bunchhay as he sped through and Chankeythya pointed to the penalty spot. Teab Vatanak took the kick instead of regular spot-kick specialist Chanbunrith and Bunchhay pulled off a great save to leave the crowd stunned into silence. The whistle went soon after with penalty kicks the decider.

Naga's Chin Chom stepped up to send Bunchhay the wrong way with the first penalty. Crown's Tieng Tiny skied his team's first kick. Bunchhay then saved Tong Soto's weakly struck shot and Keo Sokngorn levelled it at one apiece. Chanbunrith skied the next kick and Crown nosed ahead when Sun Sopanha made no mistake. Sovannrithy netted for Naga, as did Sun Samprathna, with Thul Sothearith also scoring in between, to level it at 3 each. With Sam Mina's kick saved by Chom Veasna, it went to sudden death. Teab Vatanak stepped up for Naga, with his miss in extra time fresh in his memory and planted his kick in the corner but was ordered to retake the spot-kick as he stuttered in his run up. Bunchhay saved his weak second attempt and left Phuong Narong to whack in the deciding penalty at 4-3 to spark emotional scenes as Narong tore his shirt off and ran to the bench in tears, as Naga players held their heads in disbelief. Football really is a funny old game.

The passion of the cup

The Hun Sen Cup final next week will be between Phnom Penh Crown and the National Defense Ministry after those two teams came out on top in today's semi-finals. The Army team had the easier of the semis, beating Preah Khan Reach 1-nil, albeit against the odds and the formbook. However, the real drama of the day came about in the afternoon's first match between Crown and their big rivals, Naga Corp. This match had just about everything you could ask for in a cup tie. Passion, often mistimed, was evident and that was clear at the card card which reached two reds and 14 yellows. The goals count was just as high with Crown taking a 3-nil lead at half-time with a 3-goal splurge in just seven minutes. Naga, who'd threatened a walk-off just before the interval, came back strongly and pulled back the deficit, the game finishing 3- 3 at full-time, with the Naga equaliser coming from the penalty spot with five minutes to go. In extra time they blew the chance of a win by failing from the penalty spot with almost the last kick of the game and that meant a penalty shoot-out. It was 3-3 after the first five spot-kicks and onto sudden death. The drama continued to unfold when Teab Vatanak had to retake his penalty (he'd missed in extra time), which was saved and then Phuong Narong stepped up to fire Crown into the final before bursting into floods of tears. It was time for everyone to draw a huge breath of air. This game was certainly a glorious advert for the good, and bad, of Cambodian football. More later, after I've had a lie down in a darkened room.

Brief look at the semis

Tomorrow (Saturday 27th) will see the semis of the Hun Sen Cup taking place at the Olympic Stadium. They begin at 2pm with the mouth-watering Phnom Penh Crown versus Naga Corp tie. Both teams are backed by casinos, so aren't short of a bob or two, though Crown are definitely the moneybags of the Cambodia football scene. Crown missed out on the CPL title last season but they did clinch the Hun Sen Cup, beating Naga 1-nil in the final. So it's revenge time for Naga tomorrow and they get the nod from me. I think they'll have just too much on the day for Crown to handle in tomorrow's semi final, though the league games may be a different matter, depending on what foreign talent the two teams parade in a few weeks time. It was Naga who triumphed in the Super 4 play-off to claim the league championship last time around, after Crown came out on top during the regular season. A crap way to decide the champions but it made for an exciting finale.
In the other semi, on paper and in reality, Preah Khan Reach should out-gun the Ministry of National Defense but I hope they don't. I'd like to see the Army team get through to face Naga in the final. Just my personal preference. The Army came alive in their 9-1 quarter-final win over the provincial whipping boys Rithisen, but Preah Khan will be a much much tougher nut to crack, and full of some of the country's most experienced players. If the Army keeper Samreth Seiha can play a blinder and their two wingers lead the PKR defence a merry dance, they could just do it. Fingers crossed.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog on football in the Kingdom of Cambodia. For the last couple of years, my Cambodia football-related blog posts have found a home at http://andybrouwer.co.uk/blog/. However, this is their new home from home. Any football posts relating to the Cambodian national team, the Cambodian Premier League or anything to do with football in the Kingdom, you'll find them here.