45. Dead Rubbers
There is a whole month before I take on the mighty Nagaworld in the Hun Sen Cup Final, so I am afraid I am going to have to leave you in suspense a little longer, however, the next part will be completely dedicated to the cup final.
Meanwhile there was still plenty to keep us occupied in the run up to the biggest game in EDC's short history as we round off our league campaign.
Match 28 Prek Pra v EDC 22/09/23
This is now a one match season. The league is not very important any more, so I’m putting out a more experimental XI against mid-table Prek Pra. Some of our stars are a bit knackered after the cup semi final, but I also wanted to see whether some of our younger and fringe players can cut the mustard at this level, players like Hem Sokha at right back, Rum Sokha a promising young defender who has done well on the odd occasion he has been summoned from the Reserves. Mat Dara has shown in flashes he can also play and gets a start in central midfield. Soun Bath starts as an Inside forward, snaking in from the left to support fellow teenager, Samnang Nhem who starts on his own up front. I have the big guns on the bench, just in case things don’t go to plan..
Team: Som, Hem Sokha,
Makara, Run Sokha, In Sambath, Vannak, Chea Samnang, Dara, Oudom, Nhem, Soun
Bath
Match Action
They have an early chance when the ball is flicked on and their left winger gets a shot at goal. This does not bode well. They are not letting us out of their half. Hai sweeps a ball to the left where all the danger is coming from and Suhana flick heads the ball past Som. It was coming and I’m beginning to regret resting some players. I revert to a 4-4-2 with out two teenagers up front, Dara on the left. This enables us to get forward in more numbers. A powerful header from a corner Soun Bath forces a fine fingertip save from their keeper. That’s more like it! A fine move involving the same player and Dara, who is having a good game on the left flank. led to Tuy Oudom’s far post header parried over the bar. 1-0 to them at half time.
We control the second half, as Prek Pra seem to have booked in for bed and breakfast in their own half. I throw on Noron for Nhem and Pidor on for Oudom. We have a lot of possession but create little. Taboula comes on. They look dangerous on the break, but Som is not troubled. Then a rare bit of quality. Samang works the ball to the left where Mat Dara pings in a low cross which is diverted home by Pelap Taboula in the last minute! One each. Both teams push for a winner, but a draw was the final result. Some positives though: Makara and Sokha had excellent games at the heart of the defence and Dara looked good on the left wing. The rest were a bit rubbish to be honest..
Final Score: Prek Pra 1-1 EDC
Suhana 9 Taboula 90
Vishaka Relegated
It’s been coming for a while but the once mighty Vishaka have been relegated. When I first came to Cambodia they were one of the top teams, ladened with foreign talent from South Africa, Japan and those famous five North Koreans. Since they left things have gone downhill drastically at Vishaka, culminating in a 1-0 defeat to Boeung Ket which saw them do the unthinkable and fall through the trapdoor into the Second Division.
Board Confidence
Update
Despite me doing quite well with EDC this year the board have given me a fair to middling review., with my highest mark being a B- for support from the squad and my lowest a C for transfer market performance. For some reason they are reserving judgement until a few more matches have been played, despite the fact we are very near the end of the season and I have been at the club for 4 years..??
Rudd Reaches 100
Games In Management
Our next game against Solitio Angkor sees me take charge of EDC for the 100th time. It seems a long time since we dismally lost to the kids of Bati Youth in my first game. Let’s hope I can add some silverware to my tenure at the Electric Company. Below are a few stats:
Games: 99
Win %: 54%
Games won: 54
Draws: 13
Defeats: 32
Goals for 227
Goals Against 169
Goal Difference: 58
Some of the tweets made by fans are mixed about my reign so far.
“I think maybe it’s time for a new face at EDC. Rudd just isn’t taking us anywhere”
-Ung Chanadara
“Be careful what you wish for ; Rudd is doing a good job it could be so much worse without him.”
- Chhim Vichhika
Match 29: Solitio
Angkor v EDC 07/10/23
I continue to play out the league season with a trip to Solitio Angkor. I’m going to put a full team out with a few tweaks, but may rest some if I feel the need before the cup final. Angkor are in deep relegation trouble, lying down in 13th place.
Team: Som, In
Sambath, Daravon, Gbayoro, Teat Chandara, Kakada, Rattanak, Oudom, Taboula,
Noron, Pidor
Match Action
Twenty five minutes have passed of this dead rubber and while we have dominated proceedings, we have little to show for it, Rattanak is probing, Oudom having his crosses blocked and Pidor lively but unable to create much. Our opponents are camped in their own half, with the only real outlet being their star player, Marques. Other than that not much.
On 34 minutes, Pidor flighted a ball in for Noron, who headed into the keeper’s hands. On the break, Solitio have a shot well saved by Som. Then, on the stroke of half time, Pidor picks up the ball and cuts inside from the left. He sprays the ball out to Tuy Oudom on the right wing. The youngster flights a lovely ball into the area, which is guided home first time by Pelap Taboula for his 11th goal of the season. Superb!
Substitute Makara has a stinging shot tipped over the bar after good work from Taboula on the break. Then in the dying minutes, Marques hits the top of the crossbar after an incisive breakaway. That was that. A dour 1-0 win, in a drab game befitting of its end of season dead rubber status. Definitely will be shown last on Cambodian Match of The Day. On a more positive note, all our players came through unscathed.
Final Score: Solitio
Angkor 0-1 EDC
Taboula 45
Nhem Shines for
Cambodia U19s
My young, promising striker, Samnang Nhem bagged both goals as the Cambodian U-19s dispatched their counterparts from Singapore 2-0 in the U19s Asian Championship Qualifying. Unfortunately my other young striker, Soun Bath did not fare so well for the U19s as he came back injured, putting him out of the cup final. Meanwhile in the first team, Ouk Ratana put in a solid performance as Cambodia beat Hong Kong 2-0. Unfortunately he did not fare so well in the second match as The Angkor Warriors succumbed to a 4-0 defeat to a vastly superior Japanese team. Both matches were in the group stages of the World Cup Qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.
Youth Intake
In Cambodia, the youth intake day seems to vary from mid October to early November. I should have known this day was nigh when I overheard my effervescent Head of Youth Development, Chan Vannak chatting excitedly to Nen Borey about a player he had found playing in the streets of Phnom Penh. His name was Chhim Pheara and according to Chan, he was going to be the first ever Cambodian wonderkid. Well after seeing him train I don’t think Erling Braut Haaland need worry, but by Cambodian and EDC standards, this guy is certainly one of the better players to come through the ranks during my time at the club.
Other names to join the club are:
Mol
Ly – (MR/L) A pacy winger who can play on either side.
Ly
Vattanak (DC) - A tough tackling young
defender.
Tola
Mao (DMC) – A solid defensive midfielder with good tackling.
Ly
Sophorn (DMC) – A hard tackling ball winning midfielder, but will have to join a long queue in this
position
Sok
Chanvirak (ST)– A promising young
striker with a finishing stat the same as his age- 16
Enrico
Capriati (MC) – A good young midfielder I hope to develop.
Ouk
Vibol (DRC) – A lesser spotted right
back in the youth team. Could he come through and make the spot his own one day
in the first team?
Sor
Chanvirak (ST) A poacher with promise, but he will have to join the back of a
long queue of strikers at the club.
Vannak
Sok (AMC) A creative midfielder with some promise.
Match 30 EDC v
Vishaka
In their wisdom, the Cambodian FA have once more scheduled the Hun Sen Cup Final, just two days after a league match. Therefore as this game is a dead rubber against already relegated Vishaka I have made eleven changes in a bid to wrap my star players up in cotton wool. Not much more to be said, other than let’s just get this one over with, we have bigger fish to fry. Besides, win, lose or draw, we will finish once again in 5th place in the C-League this season.
Team: Kong Rafat, Ivonoldo, Sokha, Makara, In Sambath, Vannak, Theara, Touch Van, Chanraksmey, Nhem, Dara
Match Action
We start brightly. Dara makes a lovely run down the left, before squaring for Chanraksmy, who tries to play in Nhem but his shot is blocked. Another attack ends up with Touch Van having a shot well saved by the keeper. Dara has got the bit between his teeth here. Another surge down the left results in him playing in young Nhem in the left channel. As he tries to beat his man he is tripped. Penalty. Up steps Sok Chanraksmey who buries it into the corner like only he can. Great to see the veteran get his name on the scoresheet for only the second time this season We are then pegged back instantly from the kick off. The centre of our defence is dozing off as Sella plays in Un Mony Udom to lash the ball past Kong Rafat. 1-1. Vishaka start to enjoy some possession in midfield and Sella’s probing balls on a couple of occasions needed some good interceptions to prevent further damage. Meanwhile we are dangerous on the break, but fail to create all that much. One each at half time.
We start the second half brightly and Chanraksmy has the ball in the net, but he is clearly offside, even Stevie Wonder could have seen that one. They have a gilt edged chance from a header but it is saved by Kong Rafat. I go to a 4-3-3 and throw on young Morgan Laurent, for only his second ever appearance and move Mat Dara into central midfield to add extra numbers there. Dara thwacks the crossbar from a lovely free kick. Nhem then hits a stunning effort from just outside the box which makes the crossbar vibrate once more.
At the other end Vishaka are knocking the ball around with too much confidence for my liking. The ball is worked to their right back, Krya who flights in a delicious ball which is diverted home by Phallin. 2-1 and a shock is on the cards, albeit against our ‘B’ Team. I ‘Demand More’, they respond. I disband the 4-4-3 and go to a diamond in midfield. Sub Suhana is making a difference on the right. From a throw in it is he who combines with In Sambath, who crosses the ball which is missed by the defender and lashed home by young Samnang Nhem for a deserved equaliser. We press for a winner with Suhana causing all sorts of problems down the right flank, in a way that Veasna used to. His cross is beaten away nervously by the keeper into the path of Laurent who fires in an instant shot, which trickles past the far post, How unlucky! Desmond it finished, again between these two sides. It hardly matters though because next up is the cup final!
Final Score: EDC 2-2 Vishaka
Chanraksmey 13 (pen) Mony Udom 13
Nhem 85 Phallin 74
Phnom Penh Crown Win The C-League
Phnom Penh Crown become the 4th different winners of the C-League since I have been at EDC, showing that while some teams are better equipped to win than others, the title is wide open and that anyone can win if they show consistency and a winning mentality. Great to see different teams winning than one dominating all the time as can happen in smaller countries. Perhaps next year there will be yet another new name engraved on the trophy, EDC.. For now though we must concentrate on the cup! Congratulations to Phnom Penh Crown, The King of Cambodia will be very happy!
That's the remaining league fixtures out the way, bar one. Can EDC overcome their bitter rivals and lift the Hun Sen Cup, giving Rudd his first piece of silverware? Find out next time on The Ultimate World Football Manager Game!
Comments
Post a Comment