20 August 2010, a football team selection of girls from ISF, SOS, PSE and CCOLT in Phnom Penh (PP) met at the Football Federation of Cambodia’s (FFC) ground to play an U18’s team from Kendal. The winner would qualify to play in the Womens National Championship organised by the FFC, which will be used as the selection vehicle for the U16 Cambodian team to tour Singapore, commencing on 21 November.
The Phnom Penh team
Most of the opposition players towered over our players but that did not intimidate our girls. The first 10 minutes were all Kendal, the PP girls were hanging in there through a great goalkeeper’s performance and some scrambling defense. Once our backs and mid fields took control of the game, they started to push the ball to our wingers who had a yard of pace over their opposition and the PP forwards were rewarded with a well taken shot from Srey Noit. By half time our girls were 2 nil up. The second half was a mirror of the first, other than we scored 3 more goals, including one from Srey Mum, an ISF player aged 11. I was lucky enough to sit on the bench (as a spectator that is!!), which is a real social scene as all our girls see each other on a regular basis by attending the Barclays Capital League and have not only developed a good understanding of how they all play football but also developed some strong friendships.
Kendall vs Phnom Penh
Srey Mau, ISF coach discusses half-time tactics