Bayon Wanderers FC

Bayon Wanderers vs Sleepy Dragon

Under the lights of yet another artificial pitch, the Bayon Wanderers FC took the field on this Sunday evening for the encounter against Sleepy Dragon, a fast Cambodian team managed by an ex-Bayon player who graced the Bayon shirt back in the golden days of 2016. Football, like life, has a way of bringing people back together, though this time on opposite sides of the pitch.

The game was scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m. and to the credit of the Sleepy Dragon, they were ready and waiting. The Bayon? Only five minutes late this time. Now, some of you might celebrate this as progress compared to the previous game and technically it is, though arriving late is like being less sick than last week: it is still being sick. To make matters worse, some players strolled onto the pitch a full ten minutes after kick-off, as if the game was a duggestion rather than a commitment. Yours truly dreams of the day when all Bayon players will be ready on time, though that dream might remain just that for a while longer.

After observing a few passes from the Sleepy Dragon players during the warm-up, the Bayon coach stated firmly: today we need to win. And with that the game kicked off, again in the three times thirty minutes format and with no offside rule, which in theory should have been a golden condition for Rithy to exploit with his waiting behind defender strategy.

First period:
It was the Sleepy Dragon who drew first blood. A well-constructed passing move cut through the Bayon defense and was finished clinically for 1-0. The Bayon players looked at each other as if wondering who forgot to defend. However, the response came swiftly and from an unlikely source. Collins, the anti-hero of the previous match against RPP where he saw red for that unnecessary challenge from behind, stepped up to equalize for 1-1, perhaps eager to write a different story for himself this time around. Redemption comes in many forms and sometimes it comes in the shape of a football finding the back of the net. The remainder of the first period was played evenly and the whistle blew with 1-1 on the score board.

Second period:
The second period started with the Bayon looking to take control, though it was the Sleepy Dragon who struck next. A poor clearing attempt by the Bayon defense was punished immediately and the scoreboard read 1-2 against Bayon.
Good movement was shown by a Bayon Khmer midfielder who was having a decent game in the middle of the park, though one unlucky moment spoiled his afternoon. He lost the ball, tried to recover the situation with more enthusiasm than wisdom, and
committed a foul instead. The resulting free kick was converted by the Sleepy Dragon, making it 1-3 and suddenly a dark cloud was hanging over the Bayon players.

Third period:
Down 1-3 and with confidence leaking out of every pore, the Bayon needed a spark. And that spark came in the form of Chile, the man who had already announced himself against RPP with that decisive goal while being a man down. What everyone thought was a coincidence against RPP turned out to be the beginning of something. A long ball from a Bayon defender, though whether it was an intentional pass or simply a desperate clearance as far as humanly possible remains a mystery to this day, found Chile in space. Chile did the rest, finishing with composure for 2-3 and reigniting the belief in the Bayon camp.
From that moment on, there was only one team on the pitch. Bayon started pressing with purpose and Chile was the man who could do no wrong. His second goal of the evening leveled the score at 3-3 and his third, completing a magnificent hat trick, put Bayon in the lead for the first time in the match at 4-3. The Sleepy Dragon suddenly looked like their name: sleepy. Williams put the icing on the cake by adding a fifth for Bayon, making the final score a resounding 5-3 for the Bayon Wanderers FC.

From 1-3 down to 5-3 winners. Football is a beautiful and unpredictable game.

Remarks:
- The MVP Award goes to Chile for his stunning hat trick that turned the game on its head. Two games, four goals. If this is a coincidence, then let coincidences keep coming.
- Big improvement in behavior compared to the RPP match. No arguing, no aggression, no red cards. This is how football should be played and this is the standard going forward. Well done to all.
- Discipline off the pitch, however, remains a concern. Arriving late for a game is disrespectful to the opponent, to the referee, and to your own teammates who managed to be on time. We must do better.
- When the coach gives instructions, players must follow them. Even if in the heat of the moment you believe you know better, trust the plan. A team without discipline is just eleven individuals running around a field.
- The fighting spirit to come back from 1-3 deserves all the praise in the world. However, and this is an important however, should we not start thinking about how to avoid being 1-3 down in the first place? Conceding three goals through defensive errors and unnecessary fouls is a problem that fighting spirit alone cannot solve forever.
- Rithy must learn to bring his training form into matches. The conditions were perfect for him with no offside and yet he was invisible. Potential without ex*****on is worthless.
- A big and sincere thank you to the Sleepy Dragon team for the game arrangement. It was a pleasure to renew acquaintances with their manager, a former Bayon man, and we hope for many more encounters in the future.

Bayon Wanderers vs Khmer Rouge defectors.

1998

RPP 2: 2 Bayon

Dear All,

After what felt like an eternity wandering through the football desert without any competitive action, the Bayon players finally reunited on this fine Sunday afternoon at the Chbar Ampov High School football pitch. The natural grass was a most welcome sight for the returning warriors and a total of 19 more the less motivated players showed their faces for the renewal of the old rivalry against RPP. What was supposed to be a friendly encounter turned out to be anything but, though let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Before we get to the football, a word on punctuality. The game was scheduled to kick off at 4 p.m. and the Bayon players only started their warm-up at 3:55. This is not acceptable. Most players arrived late, strolling in as if time is an abstract concept in the Kingdom of Wonder. If we want to be taken seriously as a football team, we must behave like one, and that starts with showing up on time. Being ready at kick-off means being at the field well before kick-off, not five minutes before.

The starting eleven for Bayon were: Upstate, Pascal, Collins More, Pato, Dou Dou, Mihhail, Collins, Royal, Rithy, David and Johnny. On the bench we saw Ifeanyi, Chimezie, Enouch, Mohamed, San Sara, Ecomog, Chima and a certain Messi, the latter unfortunately not the Argentine wizard but equally cherished by the Bayon Wanderers FC faithful. Uba took up the coaching duties for the afternoon from the sideline.

The game was played in the somewhat peculiar format of three periods of thirty minutes each, which makes calling them "halves" a mathematical impossibility, though one gives up on mathematical logic somewhere around the third beer after the match.

**First period:**
The opening thirty minutes were what you would expect from two teams that haven't seen a football in weeks: a careful, almost shy exploration of each other's qualities. RPP had the slightly better of the ball possession, though neither side managed to create anything remotely resembling a clear cut chance. Both teams were more the less sniffing each other out like two dogs meeting for the first time in the park. The absolute standout performer of this period, and as it turned out the entire match, was the Bayon goalkeeper who showed excellent reflexes, superb positioning and was not afraid to come off his line to help his defenders whenever needed. He was a brick wall on his goal line and a sweeper behind the defense all in one. The whistle blew with a well-deserved 0-0 on the scoreboard.

**Second period:**
RPP came out for the second period with considerably more fire in their bellies and more purpose in their play. Two to three genuinely dangerous chances were created by the RPP attackers, each one causing heart palpitations on the Bayon bench. The Bayon goalkeeper again kept the ship afloat with some outstanding saves that would have made any professional proud. However, as the old football saying goes: if you keep knocking on the door, eventually it will open. And open it did, when a well-executed cross from the right side found its target and was finished for 1-0 in favor of RPP. A deserved lead for the hosts of the afternoon, it must be said. Without the heroics of the Bayon goalkeeper, this deficit could easily have been three or four. Break came with Bayon trailing 0-1 and with work to do.

**Third period:**
Now the third and final period was simultaneously the best and the worst from Bayon players in recent memory. It was a period of two faces, like Dr. Jekyll meeting Mr. Hyde on a football pitch in Chbar Ampov.

First the good face. The team came out with renewed determination, as if coach Uba had whispered some magic words during the break. Bayon started pressing RPP all over the pitch, winning balls back and creating opportunities. The equalizer came from a corner delivered by Mihhail, which in all honesty was more clumsy than clinical. However, the RPP defense matched this clumsiness with an equally poor attempt at clearing the ball, and it was Chile who reacted fastest to the loose ball, poking it into the net from close range for a well-deserved 1-1. Sometimes in football it is not about beauty but about being in the right place at the right time and wanting it more than your opponent.

After the equalizer the game was finely balanced and for a moment it seemed like this friendly was heading for a worthy conclusion. That was until a moment of absolute madness from a Bayon player who delivered a completely unnecessary hit from behind on an RPP player. The referee reached for his pocket and out came the red card, which is where the real drama of the afternoon began.

Now the bad face appeared. What followed was more the less a theatrical performance at the Chbar Ampov High School rather than a football match. The burning question arose: should the red card mean Bayon continues with ten players or, as is customary in some friendly matches, should the team be allowed to keep eleven on the pitch? Unfortunately, and this is a lesson for the future, this had not been discussed before kick-off. RPP firmly refused to allow Bayon to play with eleven and after heated discussions, much screaming, finger pointing and what felt like a session at the United Nations Security Council, the Bayon side agreed to continue with ten men.

From that point on there was no real football to speak of from either side. Both teams were more interested in arguing with each other and the referee than in actually playing the beautiful game. However, in the midst of all this chaos, the ten brave men of Bayon somehow managed to find the back of the RPP net to take a surprising 2-1 lead, proving that sometimes fighting spirit and determination can overcome a numerical disadvantage.

The referee, perhaps wanting to restore some peace to what had become a war zone, or perhaps simply making another questionable decision in an afternoon full of them, decided to award RPP a penalty in what can only be described as a highly dubious situation. To be fair to the man in the middle, his poor decisions had been equally distributed between both teams throughout the ninety minutes, so at least he was consistent in his inconsistency. Blessing stepped up and converted the penalty with composure for 2-2, the equalizer.

Shortly after, the referee blew the final whistle after hearing that the Bayon coach no longer wished to continue the spectacle. And who could blame him? What started as a perfectly pleasant friendly Sunday afternoon of football ended as a shouting mess that had nothing to do with the beautiful game. Final score 2-2.

**Remarks:**
- What started as a perfectly fine friendly encounter ended as a screaming disaster. This is unacceptable and defeats the entire purpose of playing friendly matches. We are better than this and should behave accordingly.
- Discipline, discipline and again discipline. When the referee makes a poor decision or the opposing team does something we disagree with, we must learn to swallow our pride, accept it and prove on the pitch what we are capable of. Screaming and arguing has never won a football match in the history of the game and it never will.
- The MVP Award goes without any hesitation to the Bayon goalkeeper who single-handedly kept Bayon in this match during the first two periods. Without his outstanding performance, RPP could have been leading 4-0 before the third period even started. A performance to be proud of.
- In general Bayon showed very little team play, which is understandable given the long period without training together. However, understanding the reason does not mean accepting the situation. Only regular training together will build the automatisms and understanding between players that is needed to compete properly.
- The fighting spirit shown in the third period, coming back from 0-1 and even taking the lead with only ten men, deserves recognition and respect. This team has character, even if that character sometimes shows itself in entirely the wrong way.
- For ALL future friendly games, rules regarding red cards, substitutions and game format MUST be discussed and agreed upon BEFORE kick-off. No exceptions. This avoids situations like we witnessed on Sunday afternoon.
- A lesson that applies to life and to football equally: you cannot control the referee, you cannot control the opponent, but you CAN control your own behavior and your own reaction. Let's work on that.

A special and warm word of thanks to Uba for taking up the coaching duties and to all 19 players who showed up after such a long period without games. Your commitment is noted and appreciated. Now let's channel this energy into the training sessions and build something together on the pitch rather than destroying it off the pitch.

Hoping to have informed you properly and always open for critical comments and additions, with warm greetings from Truly Yours

Brief Report on Far East Tournament Bangkok 2024

Bayon Wanderers FC decided to participate in the BKK tournament under Billy's leadership with the idea of making a mixed team of former and current players. All the excitement and plans vanished very quickly with the shocking news of our top man. Billy was no more with us and players saw no purpose anymore in doing this tournament.

After a month of mourning, players put their heads up and decided to go on with the tournament to honour Billy.

The Bayon coach Ege travelled from Phnom Penh with Yeng, Antoine, Mihhail, Take and Naoki to meet Sebastian Gibson from England, Max and Julien from France, Benji and Kai (GK) from Bangkok and Mati from Senegal.

Although the main purpose of the weekend was to get together, Bayon surely wanted to go as competitive as possible on the field!

The boys had a 2-3-1 formation with Mihhail (Julien) and Benji (Naoki) in defence, Seb Gibson (Antoine), Mati and Take (Yeng) in midfield and Max (Ege) in the striker position.

Except Mati who can still run 200km non-stop, everybody had a sub appointed before the game and the changes worked very quickly and super effectively with the mentality that the players were not rivals for the position but partners. They were there to give everything they had and leave their post to their fresh sub happily.

It took Bayon some 10 minutes to get used to each other and find their rhythm. A draw and two wins on the first day put us on top of our group!

With our striker Max dropping always to midfield and being a +1, the boys dominated in the midfield and created dozens of chances each game. The beautiful passing game Billy was in love with was there on the field for me (Ege) and all the other teams to enjoy. We even had opponents who tried everything to finish the game 0-0 hoping to go to penalties because they simply didn't know how to deal with Bayon's one-touch passing football.

23 goals scored and only one conceded, Bayon made it to the final once again. Shanghai Shooters was the other team that made it to the final without any losses.

Although we had our chances, our opponent played slightly better than us and deserved the trophy more than us. We struggled to recover their long balls, had to run much more and 17 minutes was simply too short to come back from 1-0!

I had my best two days since November with all the boys. The "Beautiful Game" had connected Billy with us some 10 years ago and made us a family. This Bayon family did their gathering in Bangkok in 2024 with members from all around the world and planted memories to be harvested in the coming years with further gatherings and tournaments.

Big love to you, the Bayon family member, from Phnom Penh

Egemen Kıran

Hi from Bayon Wanderers FC to all the supporters in the world! 👋

Here is the result of our friendly match last night against The University of Cambodia. Please enjoy with the visuals!

Bayon 6-1 University of Cambodia

We lost first goal, but after 15mins, we could manage the game and continuously scored and ended up with this scores.

It was a nice game and thanks a lot for having a match with us UC team! We would like to quote our beloved head coach Egemen Kıran's message after the game last night here after.

Dear all,

I washed my super dusty shoes after getting home and took my shower, had a very delicious spaghetti with parsley, garlic, chilli peppers and olive oil made by my beautiful wife. I sat on my balcony, lit a cigarette and realized how great I was feeling this evening

Although Bayon started the game against UC University, they managed to turn it around very quickly and ended the first 30 minutes with a 4-1 leads from 1-0. This was thanks to Uba Wisdom Orient who showed leadership by chasing all the balls with Nelson and Take joining him quickly. When the rest of the team decided to join them, the once difficult game turned into a sweet karaoke party with a lot of joy.

The players thought there was no room left for surprises when Uba scored two goals but a bigger surprise came when their head coach made an assist. Believe it or not, the two coaches were involved in half of the final result : 6-1 for Bayon.

I want to thank all of you for making this possible for your coaches. You all worked very hard and we only added up to it!

So proud of you for keeping discipline and seriously throughout the game. So proud that I'm a part of this team!

Wishing you all a beautiful evening and many more achieve together. One love Bayon!

Dear all the Bayon Wanderers FC supporters in all over the world,

Dervis Eravci joined Bayon about 2 years ago and unfortunately exercised his last training with us yesterday!

When he first joined the team, two things were obvious about him: his enormous passion to dribble and score goals and his mental weakness. He would get upset very quickly when an opponent touched him or stopped him.

Over the time, we the coaches tried to guide him to stop making up excuses, find ways to stay more focused on the game and not let anything get his way to play better and better for himself and his team.

Over the last couple of months he got to be one of the most-valuable players for Bayon. He transformed himself from a crying baby cat to a lion-hearted monster!

Our beloved coach Egemen Kıran wants to thank him on behalf of everyone for all his contribution to Bayon on and off the field with all the posters and wish him best of luck on his new journey to come. We hope he'll use his mental strength for the next challenges he faces.

We will wait for your postcard from the USA once you settle there! Brother!!!! 😉🤙🏻🤙🏻

Thank you very much Dervis, our dear friend!

Good morning from Bayon Wanderers FC to all the supporters in the world!! 😁

We will have a friendly game against The University of Cambodia on coming Sunday!

KICK OFF: 5PM on Sunday, 31, March
FIELD: Soccer Point Community Field
(See the map from here 👇👇
https://maps.app.goo.gl/cU4n9S2XiE5jBqbb8)

We have never had a match against them, and there is no information about them, but one of our beloved players, Royal has graduated from there and he said "UC is a good team", so we must have a good game with them 😎

These days, we are having more intensity in the trainings and friendly games, and most of the players are coming back from injury, family gathering, short trip, etc. so we will have full strength for fighting with a good team 💪

If you have never attended to our game,
it is a good chance to see us on the natural grass field 🌱🌱🌱

Please invite your friends, families, potential players!
We will welcome every single person warmly! 😉

See you on Sunday!!! 👋

Suo Sadai! From Bayon Wanderers FC to all the supporters in the world! 👋

Here are the top scorers of our training last night! 🤩🙌🏻

We had 20+ players, and we divided us into 3 teams.
Each team’s line up were like this.

Uba’s team /
Uba - Take - Emmanuel - Sampson - Siyu - Truong - Rithy

Ege’s team /
Ege - Murad - Dervis - Hassan - Yeng - Royal - Jiang

David’s team /
David - Yuto - Austin - Naoki - Bata - Jiang - Pato - Chukuma

Hmm, it looks like nice teams, but there was a small argument about team division between our beloved coaches Uba and Ege 😂 Uba wants to win, Ege wants to divide all the teams equally. In short, they both want to have a good quality training! 😉

Anyway.

Dervis scored 6 goals last night. This is incredible 🤯 He is on fire now. Many good defenders in other teams tried to stop him, but he dribbled quickly and scored easily. From far, middle, and 1 on 1. Always different forms. AH! He is surely back from big injury! And we are happy to see him on the field! Huge congratulations Dervis! For the top scorer! ⚽️🥇

And second top scorer is Rithy. He scored 5. He is most of the times waiting in front of the goals, so, many players are complaining that it is not fair! 😂 But surely he scored 5. That's worth clapping hands! 👏 ⚽️🥈

And the 3rd top scorer was Uba. Ahhhh, man! Coach got the 3rd place? He is not young, but very tricky! or we can say sly! 😏He is always posses the ball in good position and tried not to be taken away and shoot with very small motion. 4 goals are proof of his skill!🔥

And the 4th top scorer was Take. Ohh he is back to the rank 🫡 Take is playing most of the times defensive position these days. And he delivers the last passes for Uba / Rithy to just touch the ball in front of the goals last night. But at the final match, he woke up and scored 3. We saw him score and assist and enjoyed football last night 😁

We had beautiful goals from Austin, Pato and many other players scored through great pass work. Please keep it up boys!

That’s all from last night. Who will be the top scorer in the next training? 😉

Anyway, this is our usual training. Super intense, but fun 😉 If you want to join our team, please just contact us directly 🤙🏻We are welcoming all kinds of players from all over the world 😉🙏🏻 Have a great day everyone 🌞

Hi from Bayon Wanderers FC to all the supporters in the world!! 😉👋

Since many things happened to our social media team and it took time, we apologize to post these last week’s results 🙏🏻

Today, we will celebrate the top scorers in last Thursday training and the best players of the last week at the same time! 😉

Dervis and Nelson got 3 goals, Yury got 2 goals, and Truong got 1! Congratulations for top scorers! Nelson was taking a rest for few practices after his injury. We are happy to see him back and as soon as he gets back, already he scored 3… oh oh we have to watch him out! 🤙🏻🤙🏻🤙🏻 He is too flexible and calm when he possesses the ball. He can score from anywhere and at the same time he an assist other players. Defenders must have trouble when they face with him in the field 🫢

Aaaaaaaand our best players of the last week were Truong! Yuto! And Mihail! Huge congratulations 🤩👏🏻🔥

Truong is a player from 🇻🇳 Vietnam and this is the first time for him to be chosen. He is a defender but actively moving around the field and passes, dribbles and shoots by himself sometimes and even scores! There are many defenders in Bayon but he is certainly a good defender with a good vision and it is easy to play with him! 😉🙏🏻

And Yuto was chosen again!! 🤯 really!? We think Uba and Ege love him too much 😂 he was chosen as a best players of the week more than 5 times already! Please anyone stop him! We don’t want to give him any more best players of the week!! 😂 but it is quite tough to stop him. We know it. He is literally amazing player with tough heart. No reason not to choose him. Congrats bro.

And Mihail was chosen 2 weeks in a row. Wow wow wow he is getting better and better now after his holidays! You know he has a long long legs. He is definitely a good defender. But not just as a defender, he has a secret weapon. He has a certain cannon shoot… every team wants to have him as a defender, but he scored from far. That’s so nice to have him in the team. Every captains of each team must be so happy if they can put him in the team 😉

Well, it’s Tuesday! It’s our training day!!
Who will score today and who will be in the list of our best players of the week?!

Please put your comments on our post if you have your guess!! 😉🤘🏻🔥

Suo Sadai to all the Bayon Wanderers FC supporters in the world from Phnom Penh! 😄👋

Let’s keep on introducing our new players! 😎🙏🏻

The 4th player we would like to introduce is… 菊地雄登 Yuto Kikuchi!!! The hard working defender from 🇯🇵 Japan!!

Yuto is a super hard working player with great skills and strong mentality 😉 We have to say, he is the most hard working player in Bayon now. Both of our coaches Ege and Uba confirm this. He brought strong mentality and attitudes and that is changing the mindset of other players in the team already!

He came to Cambodia as a physical education specialist through JICA program few months ago. He is teaching at BTB High School on daytime, and play in Bayon at night time and on weekend. He used to play in Japan for several teams. Our beloved Japanese player Naoki invited him to join 😄

In the trainings, he is always encouraging other team mates with his actions and coaching. He sometimes even shouts to the team mates. Some players are misunderstanding him through those shouts, that he is too straight, but clearly that is wrong. He is just purely serious in every training and match 😉 He talks and tries to communiate with everyone how to be better in every situation. If he yells to you, that means not enough for him. Don't take it bad. It's coming from his true will for Bayon to improve as a team. Remember this all Bayon players ☝️

Some of you guys might notice, he was selected as best players of the week 4 times in a row 🤯 Oh Oh... what the heck! Too good! 🤙🏻🔥This is enough to tell you how much he is a great player. We are so lucky to have him in the team and feel so sorry for any opponent teams! 😂

He is basically a defender, but he can play in the mid, and even as an attacker. He is literally everywhere. Most of us doubt if he has 4 lungs 🫁🫁 He runs a lot, kick is great in passing and shooting. He is definitely one of the key players who can define the game. Please check him out in coming games 😉

Thanks a lot Yuto for joining us! And all the supporters, please welcome our new player!!!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻