CPL 1 Round 6 Roundup
Round 6 of CPL 1 was hardly one of shocks, with the top team having a storming victory, while the bottom placed club were brutalised. What we do know now though is that while 1st and 8th place seem almost assured from 2-7 literally anything could happen.
To read about the Cambodian Premier League click here
Featured Match – Svay Rieng vs Angkor Tiger
Svay Rieng made it 5 wins out of 6 with an emphatic 4-1 victory against Siem Reap side Angkor Tiger. Five wins out six is no mean feat, particularly when you factor in that the one draw they had was after a water logged pitch and abandoned match.
Were they though worthy of the 4-1 victory? In the first-half they were without doubt the stronger side with who else, bur Markus Haber opening the scoring, before the lead was doubled by new Irish signing O’Connell, with his first goal since joining the club.
Despite going in 2-0 down the Tigers kept their composure and came out fighting, with star player Fernandes scoring an absolute screamer to make it 2-1. At this point it really could have been anyones game until Haber pounced for his second of the game, before Mizuno sealed the deal with his first goal since returning to the side.
Quite expectedly and indeed deservedly Markus Haber received the man of the match award, no surprise to Khmer Nights who predicted he might be the difference in the title race this season.
Despite the defeat though Angkor Tiger looked good and can take some solace from their performance with manager Alistair Heath telling Khmer Nights “I actually think we played better today than in games we have won. At 2-1 down I think we could have got back into the match, but in the end we lost to the best team in the country right now”.
Opposing manager Conor Nestor also shared his view of the game stating “I’m very happy with our boys today. It was a great performance against the best counter-attacking team in the league. No one has beaten them by more than 2 goals, so it really was a great result. Hopefully Silva isn’t a long term injury as him and Largo are very entraining to watch”.
To read about watching football in Cambodia click here.
CPL 1 Round 6 Roundup
And as for the rest of the results it was largely business as usual. Boeung Ket continued their decent form with a 6-0 thrashing of the ever awful Kirivong Sok Sen Chey, with the Takeo based side seemingly needing a miracle to avoid the wooden spoon. Tukianen Sakar Lamari received the man of the match award for the Cambodian Airways Stadium based side.
Visakha FC recovered from their poor performance last week with a 3-0 away win at Tiffy Army, their second defeat in succession. And in the last match of interest last seasons champions continued their poor form with a 0-0 bore draw at home to Nagaworld. It might be too soon to be making any wild suggestions, but with one win out of six it is throughly unlikely Crown will be, no pun intended keeping their crown this year.
Author: Gareth Johnson
Gareth Johnson is the founder of Young Pioneer Tours and has visited over 180+ countries. His passion is opening obscure destinations to tourism and sharing his experience of street food.
