\n Svay Rieng head coach Matthew McConkey led his team to a 2-0 victory over Singapore champions Lion City Sailors at Jalan Besar Stadium in their fourth match of the ASEAN Club Championship Shopee Cup on Feb. 5. Photo: Svay Rieng FC\n <\/p>\n
PHNOM PENH \u2014 Preah Khan Reach Svay Rieng head coach Matthew McConkey said Cambodian football is improving year by year, even after his team\u2019s elimination from the ASEAN Club Championship Shopee Cup. <\/p>\n
Svay Rieng\u2019s 2-0 victory over Singapore champion Lion City Sailors at Jalan Besar Stadium on Feb. 5, their fourth match of the campaign, was not enough to secure a place in the next stage.<\/p>\n
The Cambodian side started confidently and controlled much of the possession. Both teams created chances in the first half but failed to convert.<\/p>\n
Svay Rieng broke the deadlock in the 51st minute when Conor Shields cut the ball back to Kwame Peprah. The ball rebounded to Patrick Robson, who finished to give his side the lead. Thirteen minutes later, Robson doubled the advantage with a solo effort, dribbling past two defenders before firing a curling shot from inside the box. A slight deflection carried the ball into the net and sealed the 2-0 win.<\/p>\n
Speaking after the match, McConkey said his team did not play with their usual level of control in possession or chance creation, but he was satisfied with the result.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it was probably not like a normal game for us. Normally we have a bit more control of the ball, we\u2019re more aggressive and defend a little higher,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was a very even game, with not a lot of chances for both teams. We took our chances when they came, and maybe they didn\u2019t. The game was decided in those two moments.\u201d<\/p>\n
McConkey said the team fell short of its ambitions in the tournament but argued the performances reflect the rapid development of Cambodian football, driven by stronger domestic competition over the past four years since he began working in the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not quite at the level where we can completely dominate the group, but nobody can deny we\u2019ve been competitive in every game we\u2019ve played,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe margins between turning a draw into a win or a loss into a draw have been very small. That shows the strength of football in Cambodia, which is growing every year.\u201d<\/p>\n
A 1-1 draw between Johor Darul Ta\u2019zim and Nam Dinh confirmed both teams\u2019 places in the semifinals. Svay Rieng sit third in Group B with seven points, ahead of Lion City Sailors, Bangkok United and Shan United, who finished bottom.<\/p>\n
Svay Rieng still have one remaining match, rescheduled from Jan. 29 when they were due to host Bangkok United at Morodok Techo National Stadium. The ASEAN Football Federation postponed the fixture after Bangkok United were unable to travel to Phnom Penh because of security concerns. Fighting in the area later subsided following a ceasefire that took effect on Dec. 27.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Svay Rieng head coach Matthew McConkey led his team to a 2-0 victory over Singapore champions Lion City…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":463736,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,237768,596,237767,85],"class_list":["post-463735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-even-after-his-teamrsquos-eli","tag-football","tag-phnom-penh-mdash-preah-khan-reach-svay-rieng-head-coach-matthew-mcconkey-said-cambodian-football-is-improving-year-by-year","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}