Press Talk

Today's Phnom Penh Post carries my report from Sunday's opening BIDC Cup matches. The newspaper's print deadlines meant that the match report didn't make it into Monday's paper. It should be online later today. The second round of matches kick off this afternoon. HAGL, keen to erase their 3-2 defeat against Cambodia, will also want to show V-League new boys Vissai Ninh Binh a clean pair of heels when the two teams meet at 3.30pm in today's opening game. The two teams are currently preparing for the new V-League season, where HAGL finished 6th last time around and VNB won the 1st Division title, and both teams have been spending money like its going out of fashion. In the 2nd game tonight, at 6pm, Cambodia U23s will be looking to continue their great start to the competition against their Laos U23 counterparts. In the forthcoming SEA games, the two teams have been drawn in separate groups. Its a battle of the foreign coaches with Cambodia's Australian-born coach Scott O'Donell pitting his wits against Laos' Austrian coach Alfred Riedl. The latter has a long list of overseas coaching on his CV including Morocco, Egypt, Kuwait and the national teams of Austria, Liechtenstein, Palestine and Vietnam before taking over Laos in July. Link; PPP.