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Sports
Notes
- CAMBODIA's 1st Iternational Game
On Home Soil In Four Years -
October 2005
James Loving - National Radio Text Service - Tuesday October 11, 2005 Singapore's Tiger Cup Championship Side Win 2-0 - International Helps Khemera To Cambodian Premiere League Title - Tiger Cup Champions Singapore Come To Cambodia - Cambodian Coach O'Donnell Has Second Chance - Hok Sochetra Dedicated To Coaching - Disabled World Volleyball Championships - NR Top 10 According To Google - FIFA Top 10 CAMBODIA'S 1ST GAME ON HOME SOIL IN FOUR YEARS Who said it couldn't be done. I was ready to join them. Since I started covering Cambodian Football at the 2000 Tiger Cup there was only one International team football event played on Cambodia soil..... that event being the World Cup Qualifiers of 2001 with Indonesia, China and Maldives. So please make note…. Cambodia finally played an International soccer match ON IT'S HOME SOIL!!! Let us bow our heads and pray. It all came to pass on Tuesday October 11, 2005 when Singapore walked away with a 2-0 result at Phnom Penh's infamous Olympic Stadium. Approximately 6,000 fans were in attendance.Prince Norodom Ranariddh Sihanouk's was there. A band played on with a pretty good singer. And last but not least ESPN was there to cover it with Sports Crazy host Andy Penders. What's that you say… SAY WHAT!!!!! Oh my what a site to see. You should-dah been there. In a fairly close match Singapore's Shahril Bin Ishak scored two goals. The first goal was blasted in just before the break in the 45th minute. The second just before regulation time was to expire in the 87th minute. In the world of should-dah, would-dah, could-dah.... If the Khmer's could-dah played stronger during the last 5 minutes of each half they would-dah walked away on level terms with the Tiger Cup champions. The two teams last met in the U-23 Pre-SEA Games competition in Bangkok resulting in Cambodia losing 3-2 in the last minute. That prompted Cambodia's coach and ESPN Sports analyst Scott O'Donell to say, "We could have (could-dah) snatched that one."
But that was then and this is now. On this trip Singapore brought some of their Tiger Cup (senior national team) championship team. O'Donell pointed out that three of Singapore's back four were on the championship Tiger Cup squad but not on the U-23 side when they met in Bangkok. Singapore coach Radojko Avra Movia brought along giant defender Daniel Bennett, 27 who had a great Tiger Cup performance. The back four also included S. Subramani, 33 and 30-year-old Aide Iskander. After the match Prince Ranariddh approached O'Donell and said he wanted the team to play more aggressively and more offensive. After that exchange O'Donell said he wasn't that disappointed in the sides performance although he was more pleased with the squad's first half effort. "You have to play against good competition to get better," he said. In Cambodia's case almost every team in the region is better. They must be rated in the bottom three of ASEAN teams along with Timor, Philippines and Brunei. Laos may have been on the list in the past but recently they have been defeating the Khmer's as they did in Bangkok winning 3-0. O'Donell was instrumental in making the match happen and more. O'Donell talked to Singapore coach Radojko about the contest. The ball then was passed to the Singapore and Cambodian Football Federations. Cambodia being the host pays the hotel bills and needed help. CFF president Ravy Khek is also related to Prince Ranariddh who gave financial help. O'Donell also being an ESPBN sports analyst formerly based in Singapore talked to ESPN's Andy Penders via telephone when Panders was in Bangkok. O'Donell gave him the big…COME ON DOWN and Panders did. So what next? A game with some players from Germany is in the works to be played at Phnom Penh's Olympic Stadium between now and the opening of the SEA-Games in Bacalod, Philippines at the end of November. The exact date for the friendly with Germany has yet to be determined. When you deal with Cambodia you soon learn nothing is carved in stone. NOTES: Prince Norodom Ranariddh Sihanouk said Cambodia would be ready to host the SEA Games in 2011. Cambodia was to host the games in 2003 but bowed out since Olympic Stadium wasn't finished being renovated. At this time the stadium is with poor lighting that wasn't used during the game and a non-operational scoreboard. The stadium opened in May 2004 using only the arena under the grandstand for a boxing event…. O'DONELL RE-UPS: Scott O'Donell and the Cambodian Football Federation (CFF) agreed to a two-year extension on his contract. The OLYMPIC STADIUM capacity seems to be in dispute. According to the CFF's Tola May the grandstand area hodls 5,000 spectators when full. YOUNG FANS: As the game progressed from the 3:30 start time young fans in school uniforms started to filter into the stadium... SAM EL NASA, Cambodia's captain has been a fixture on the Cambodia national team since the 2000 Tiger Cup. Since that time he has played defense, midfield and is now listed as a striker… IT WAS SHOCKING!!! The Cambodian Football Federation had GAME SHEETS with the line-ups and all the information a journalist would need (except bio's). That in itself is a small step for mankind but a A GIANT STEP FOR THE CAMBODIAN FOOTBALL FEDERATION. Monday October 10, 2005 KHEMERA DEFEAT HELLO UNITED 3-0 Prince Norodom Ranariddh Sihanouk's team Khemera took the Cambodian League title with a 3-0 win over the Hok Sochetra coached Hello United Sunday before over 5,000 entheustiac fans at Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh. Nigerian Ike Michael Nwaodika who scored Khemera final goal and walked away with the games Man of The Match honors shared his thoughts on the victory. "I'm very happy, he said. "We lost the final league game to them 3-1.... so it's revenge." The prince's side finished second in the regular season standings to United's 13 win, 2.loss, 3 draw record. Though United coach and former national star Hok Sochetra started the season in May as a player/coach, he has thrown I the towel and has reserved himself to coaching only. Why? "I don't have time to train. I'm too busy," he pointed out. Tola May the Cambodian Football Federation's (CFF) key man for youth development quickly interjected, "If you can't train you can't play," he said in a family sort of way. The Federation and Sochetra have been through a lot together. Since Sochetra took a job with telephone service provider Samart in 2001 he has been gaining weight and losing power. Samrat gave to their football team Hello United. The now 32-year-old former striker is now married and raising a family. CAMBODIAN DISABLED NATIONAL VOLLEYBALL TEAM EXITS TOURNAMENT The Cambodian disabled volleyball team exited the disabled World Volleyball Championship's in Regina, Canada in the first round after registering a one-win two-loss record. The Khmer's opened the tournament losing to defending champions Canada 3-0. They bounced back by defeating world # 3 ranked Poland 3-1 followed by a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Slovakia. Other tournament competitors include Rwanda and Germany. For more information go to: www.standupcambodia.org NR's TOP 10 According to Google National Radio's Top 10 stories are: (1) Jim Murray, (2) Royal Palace (3) NBA Trivia, (4) Michael Jordan (5) Jerry West Builds Memphis (6) Freshie Boy & Girl Contest (7) OOPS FAT Did It Again (8) ASEAN Games (9) Cambodian Football (10) Angkor Wat Past Most Mentioned: (1) Walter Payton, (2) Marshall Faulk (3) Barry Bonds (4) Digital Divide Data. TIGER NOT BY THE TAIL The Tiger Cup will be no more. They have gotten their mileage out of their sponsorship and are bowing out as the sponsor of the ASEAN championship competition for the senior national teams. How will that play out in the record books if say Heineken Beer should decide to take over the sponsorship? Stay tuned….. FIFA TOP TEN Rank/Team/Points 1. Brazil - 837 2. Argentina - 782 3. Netherlands - 780 4. Czech Republic - 777 5. Mexico - 770 6. USA - 768 7. England - 743 8. Spain - 739 9. France - 737 9. Portugal - 737 © Copyright: National Radio. Any use of these materials, whole or in part, is prohibited unless authorized in writing by National Radio. Contact: nationalradio@yahoo.com
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