Coach’s Corner – Cambodia Lifestyle Talk to Coach Oleg Ahead of Historic AFC Cup Match

On the eve of Phnom Penh Crown’s mouthwatering AFC Cup fixture with Myanmar’s league champions Shan United, we managed to sit down with the mastermind behind Crown’s recent success Oleg Starynskyi and talk about his thoughts on the AFC Cup so far, battling on multiple fronts and what is to come in the future. 

You can read our last interview with Oleg here. 

So far you have had great AFC Cup results, how have you achieved this?

Yes indeed, I think we did a good job, especially with the qualification rounds because even though for example you play with Laos’ champions we beat them last time so it was expected and then with Tampines is an entirely different level team so these are dominant in Singapore so we knew it’s going to be very difficult and then we know their strengths and we know their weaknesses and they’re a really well-organized team I would say for the three years that I’m working here so I have never met this type of organization so such like fluent ball movement, passing the patterns they have inside, a very tactical team you know a very dominant team and they dominant inside the league even with the lines and they sell us another team who also like controlling the ball, that is in and out. We knew it was going to be a tough match so we went 0-2 down and came back to 3-2. So, we took this victory and then I think it was the first time that a Cambodian team went through the qualification rounds into the group stages because the ones that represented before they were going out so everyone who was participating in the qualifications was out. So, if we failed then all of Cambodia failed so this gave us the motivation. And now I think we have a really nice group like more or less equal group in the AFC so I think we can compete with all the teams. I wouldn’t say it like this, okay, for sure we have the Australian team where there is a good level of football so I would say they stand a little bit apart compared to the Philippines and Myanmar teams but you don’t need to forget that the Myanmar team are the champions of Myanmar and they have a solid record and almost every year they represent Myanmar in the AFC so they have the experience and have a lot of national team players so their level is also very high. But, I am very happy with the first victory and now we will push for another three points this Thursday.

Do you think the CPL has helped improve things for Cambodian Clubs on a continental level?

Definitely, definitely. because there are no easy games even though if you see the game with Tiger everyone expected us to make easy work but we only finished the game at the last minute. Until the 90th minute, it was still only 1-0 so it was not that easy. So, I think the gap from the bottom team to the top team is not as big as it was before. Now we always have around four or five teams who are actually competing for the medals it’s not like just participating. Like, we have Visakha, Naga, Svay Rieng, and Tiffy Army is never an easy game then we see Naga start a little unlucky but usually they are very consistent so I think it’s just a matter of time until they come back to the normal. ISI is a new very good team, Kirivong improved from last season and Tiger need to find their way to play so everywhere you can expect to lose a point.

You beat a team from the Philippines who have an AFC Champions League entrant – do you think Cambodia is ready to enter now?

In the Champions League, I think we need a Filipino team in the CL because of the new system which is taking eight years not the same as Europe which is five years so they are granted this position because of the previous success of Ceres-Negros and Global FC and some maybe of Kaya. This league has only seven teams in the league and three represent in the AFC competitions so I feel it is a little unfair but you need to understand that it is unfair maybe for this year and last year but before The Philippines used to be strong so they’re using their legacy and using their points from the previous three or five years before and for Cambodia we only just started to get the points and we need to be realistic because five years ago the football here was not that high because I remember we played against this team Home United and they was not the best team, they was a strong team but not the best and we had no chance with them they was completely dominating and you remember we were represented by Beoung Ket, Naga and there were 8-0s 5-0s but I would say not anymore I think now we can compete with Vietnam teams, Thai teams, Indonesian teams, so the gap now is not that big.

The next game Crown will be playing at Olympic Stadium – do you think this could be beneficial for the team?

I would say playing internationals in Cambodia is always beneficial for sure but we understand that this is not our home ground I think it doesn’t matter on this as there will still be full support for us and sure if it wasn’t for the seating regulations we could open the whole stadium I think there would be more than 10,000 up to 20,000 people to watch this match but unfortunately the AFC rule is very strict so that is why we decided to play the first home game at the Olympic Stadium and with all the renovation here (RSN Stadium) thanks to the investment from our president Phu Cherlin the investment has brought chairs here, we now have the roads it’s been a huge, huge step up so I think and I hope the next matches will be at our stadium because here we have the presence of the football when we have a full stadium it has a championship feeling like in England but I don’t think it will matter if we play in the Olympic or the RSN with our support it will give us the motivation.

How are the players feeling coming up to Thursday night’s game?

I am really happy with our preparation because that’s our point we are always aiming to prepare for both tournaments I think we have set the team quite nicely and I would say this, for me, being season number three we currently have our strongest team. We have two players for every position, we haven’t had the same team since the official matches started we make changes here and here. The players are motivated to compete for their position. They know if they don’t play today they will have a good chance to play the next match. We also have a nice balance in regard to recovery, preparation, and playing time. The players had a very good preseason over in Thailand and this has really helped us and we played with some top, top teams one of the strongest in Thailand and one of the strongest in Hong Kong and we won two times, drew with Port, drew with Rangers and sometimes we played better than these so this gave us confidence. So as I say this is also good motivation for the players.

How far do you think Crown can go in the competition?

We go step-by-step so now our goal is very simple to qualify for the next round, firstly to go for the first position then there is the second position but we have to aim for the first position. Yes, we have the Australian team but I don’t think they are that dominant, they’re not that outstanding. It’s not Johor or Buriram. They also have a very good quality of players but I think we can compete with them, for now, our focus is to get the three points from Shan United who are also a very solid team. Now our aim is to qualify from the group and then we will see the top four teams from our region, the South East Asian region and then there will be the semi-final and if we’re there I hope we will have a good draw. It’s step-by-step.

You can check out Crown’s Facebook page here.

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