What dreams are made of
Nearly every young boy has a dream of becoming a top footballer but only a few make it. Some will give up at the first attempt, others will do whatever it takes to make it. In Cambodia, the first step in fulfilling that dream is to join a football team and for those who are good enough, they may get a chance to join a professional team like Phnom Penh Crown. There are other teams they could join but only Crown are putting their full weight behind the development of the Kingdom's young stars.
Finding the cream of Cambodia
It all starts tomorrow. The search for the best young footballing talent aged 13 and under in the country begins in earnest at 8am tomorrow morning at the Olympic Stadium. Phnom Penh Crown's desire to fill the 22 places in their Elite Football Academy that will begin in November, with the cream of the country's most talented youngsters, will take the club's coaches on a nationwide hunt throughout the month of October as they crisscross the provinces as follows:
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Cambodia's first football Academy for young footballers
Phnom Penh Crown are streets ahead of any other professional football team in Cambodia.
Today's press conference to announce the first-ever residential football academy for young footballers proved exactly that. Trials in 17 locations (including most of the provinces) will take place during October to uncover the best talent the country's young football stars of the future have to offer. Aimed at 12 and 13 year olds, the 22 players that make the final cut will join Phnom Penh Crown on a full-time basis for two years, undergoing a tailored programme that will maximize their football potential and give them a private education as well. We are talking naturally-gifted players being coached every day to improve their technique and understanding of the game, at the club's own training ground in Tuol Kork.
Cup Final Fever
A scorching sun overhead, suspensions affecting the line-ups, even changes to both teams because of warm-up injuries and fitness test failures, as well as the appearance of the new national team coach for the first time, today's Metfone C-League championship play-off final had it all, even before it kicked-off.
Sopanha sends Crown through to final
Sun Sopanha demonstrated his prowess from dead-ball situations to guide Phnom Penh Crown into next weekend's Metfone C-League play-off final. Their hard-fought 4-2 win over Naga was a great advert for the C-League in front of a big crowd at Olympic Stadium this afternoon. The game had a bit of everything thrown into the mix.
Talk About a Melting Pot
Teams trickled in all day on Monday from every corner of the planet – 32 teams representing 50 countries and nearly as many languages. Each team works with disadvantaged youth using soccer for social development. These organizations tackle a host of pressing issues in societies around the world, including HIV/AIDS, gang violence, teenage pregnancy, poverty, conflict resolutiong, hunger, the plight of refugees and homelessness among others.
Action returns to Kidzcool turf
The Phnom Penh Post Mini Soccer tournament bounced back from the Khmer New Year break to set up another full evening of top notch action Tuesday on the Astroturf pitch at Kidzcool Children & Family Fun Village. With the unrefined determination of the teams starting to instigate some ugly confrontations, new rules had been administered to outlaw all hard tackles, which result in automatic yellow cards and expulsion for the remainder of the game.
More thrills and kills in Post Mini Soccer tourney
Tuesday night saw another thrilling round of fixtures from the Phnom Penh Post Mini Soccer Championship at Kidzcool Children and Family Fun Village. First up saw hosts Kidzcool clash with Expat Advisory Services in a hard-fought contest played at a top level. With little to separate the two in terms of teamwork and individual skill, Kidzcool played the tactics game to perfection by flooding their own half to frustrate the Expat strikers while making the most of their counterattacking breakaways. Kidzcool took the tie 8-5 in a result that gave Expat something to think about.
Corporations do battle in mini soccer championship
Re published with the kind permission of The Phnom Penh Post
This Tuesday will see the start of the inaugural Phnom Penh Post Mini Soccer Championship hosted by Kidzcool Children and Family Fun Village on Chroy Changvar peninsular, Phnom Penh. Ten teams from local corporations including Smart Mobile, Devenco, Indochina Research, Expat Advisory Services, Total Petrol Stations, Infinity Insurance, Ezecom, KPMG, The Phnom Penh Post and Kidzcool, will do battle against each other in matches spread over the course of three months, building up to finals on June 11 to coincide with the start of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Four players from each team are allowed on the field at any one time, with one goalkeeper, and games will last 15 minutes each way.
The Big Kick Off
The new Cambodian professional football season will get underway on Saturday 27 March, and finish in August. There will be two games on the opening day and another two matches the following day, Sunday 28 March. With sponsorship already confirmed the new Metfone Cambodian League will comprise 10 teams with Post Tel and Phuchung Neak relegated from last season, and will be replaced by Prek Pra Keila and Chhma Khmao from Svay Rieng.
The opening weekend of matches will look like this:
Saturday 27 March
2.30pm Phnom Penh Crown v Wat Phnom