Angkor Tigers 3 EDCFC 1, and just a day after watching England lose the Euro’s final. Works dictated that I was to be in Siem Reap on Monday, the Euro 2020 final was on Sunday night, so I headed to Siem Reap very much with football on the mind.
Siem Reap on lockdown
Sadly Siem Reap has 10pm curfew and an alcohol ban, so no bars. This meant I would have to stay at a hotel of sorts, it turns out Star Bar where I used to frequent are a hotel of sorts and have a huge screen. Best place to watch sports in Siem Reap? Star Bar.
You can read about Star Bar here .
After the disappointment of losing to Italy I was up and ready to cover me some C-League action.
To read the history of the C-League click here.
The day of the match I felt OK though and headed to the SRU stadium. This is where Cambodian football gets confusing. The stadium is the Siem Reap United Stadium, the kit says Siem Reap United, but they are called Angkor Tigers FC. Anyway they ad a club shop, so I got my third C-League kit, Visakha FC , EDCFC and now Angkor Tigers
Angkor Tigers 3 EDCFC 1 – The return to Siem Reap
I waltzed into the stadium wearing my EDCFC shirt, which the players and manager loved. A selfie was duly approved here. EDCFC are not exactly a well supported club and I am fairly sure there are not to many foreigners with their shirt!
As for the match Angkor Tigers scored 3 in the first half, with EDC getting a consolation in the second. From recent results you’d assume EDCFC of Cambodia are a bit shit, in actual they play with spirit and are the only club in the league with a young team that has no foreigners. I truly hope they manage to stay up.
To read what its like to watch football in Cambodia click here .
What is the situation in Siem ReaP?
I will give this more detail in some later articles, but not great. There’s a 10 pm curfew an alcohol ban and the whole place looks like a nuke went off, it is more Z-Nation that tourism hub right now. Bar street is a building site, but amazingly Cozy Bar is there right in the middle and still open. Apparently they even serve food now…
You can read abut Cozy Bar here .
Things change and indeed things stay the same……