Preah Vihear Falls 7-2 to Kampong Thom in “Footie in the Boonies” Match

In a goal filled match in the hinterland, home team Preach Vihear were humiliated 7-2 by Kampong Thom in the Hun Sen Cup qualifiers. These qualifiers give provincial sides a chance to play the big boys and also potentially progress upwards the Cambodian football pyramid.

To read about the Cambodian Premier League 2 click here.

Preah Vihear FC 2 Kampong Thom FC 7

After starting the match relatively even, it was the away side that broke the deadlock in the 7th minute. This opened the floodgates, with goals following in the 14th, 16th, 21st and 40th minute. The first-half humiliation was sealed when Kouen Seaming slotted home the away teams 7th goal after some bizarre and abysmal defining from the home team.

After such a first-half smashing one might expect a similar drubbing in the second. But Preah Vihear came out with a spring in their step and managed to pull one back in the 63rd minute as substitute and star striker Va Dara managed a goal.. He would score again two minutes later, but so endeth the excitement. The match would finish with the home side down 7-2 in front of a crowd consisiting of a few hundred excited schoolchildren and yours truly. 

The Preah Vihear Stadium

The Preah Vihear stadium is another high-school affair and not half bad as 3rd tier provincial home sides go. It could easily squeeze 500 plus people onto the grounds and the pitch was far better than many in either the top or second tier.

To read about football stadiums in Cambodia click here.

On the negative side there were no vendors of street food or cold drinks within the stadium. The grounds being a five minutes walk from the “high street” kept this from being an intolerable situation though.

The Preach Vihear Guide

Believe it or not, my main reason to come here was not to watch low level provincial football, but rather to see the Prasat Preah Vihear, a Khmer temple that crowns a 525-m cliff in the Dângrêk Mountains in Cambodia. Allegedly 100 years older than Angkor Wat, the temple has been been part of a wider border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia. Over the years its ownership has yo-yo’d between either state. It was also occupied by the Khmer Rouge.

To read about the last Khmer Rouge state click here.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) originally ruled in Cambodia’s favour over the area in 1962, but this has not stopped disputes and even armed conflict erupting from time to time. Visiting here has though been largely pretty safe fro a long time now.

When one talks about Preah Viheah they might mean either the town, the province or the temples. The town, which is the capital of the province, is two hours from the tourist attractions and honestly there is not much of note there. It is more of a stop on the way to somewhere interesting than anything else. 

As for Preah Vihear nightlife? Well, there’s a large street with plenty of street food options, one bar, some karaoke action and one “high-end” restaurant called the Lyhout, which also serves as a cake and coffee shop. 

Getting to and from Preah Vihear

Basically it’s the same distance from Phnom Penh as Siem Reap is. So it’s doable by bus. As things stand though you are most likely to be the only person on said bus.

Alternatively it is possible to visit via Siem Reap and Anlong Veng, the later of which is just two hours away by paved road. Anlong Veng was the last hideout of Pol Pot before his death. You can read the Khmer Nights guide to Anlong Veng here.

Preah Vihear town is not exactly on the tourist trail, nor likely to be time soon. That said? There are less interesting provincial capitals out there.

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