Sopheaktra & Tiffy Ready To Go To War

Tiffy Army head coach will face a disciplinary committee after losing the plot and headbutting a referee as his side lost 1-3 at home to Vishaka on Saturday night.

Tough start to the season for the club…..

Tiffy have made a rocky start to the season but could be forgiven as they have played Svay Rieng, Crown and Vishaka in three opening six weeks, losing all three. A disastrous defeat at home to Tiger was the only unforgivable loss this season. A 3-2 win over Life FC a week ago after an impressive 2-2 draw away at ISI was beginning to show light at the end of the tunnel.

Sopheaktra has come under scrutiny from Tiffy fans due to his involvement with the U19 national team during the summer. This ‘distraction’ meant that Tiffy were without their head coach for most of pre season and therefore a lack of preparation and friendlies meant the club was unprepared on the opening night when they were destroyed 0-7 by Svay Rieng. A small section of fans have even questioned whether this heart is in the job as he spends more time at his coffee shop than he does on the training ground.

Regardless of right or wrong, the reaction is unacceptable….

There isn’t a football fan, player, coach or pundit that disagrees with Tiffy Army protests when it comes to the penalty. The referee got this decision spectacularly wrong. However in his defense, without VAR or the support of any additional officials he can only give what he thinks is right at the moment and then he has to stick to that decision. In the speed of that moment what the referee sees is a Vishaka player shooting towards goal, two Tiffy defenders sliding to block, one with his arms up in the air, and the ball then ricochets in the opposite direction to the goal. He had a split moment to make a decision and either it hit the defender on the arm or, far more unlikely, the Vishaka player shot the ball into his own arm. It was the wrong decision by the referee but one you can understand.

What followed is unacceptable at any level of football. I would never condemn a coach for letting their emotions go into overdrive. I’ve been sent off three times as a coach and cautioned eleven times (1 red and 3 yellows from last night’s referee) for my emotions getting the better of me so I can totally understand Sopheaktra reactions. When you spend your life working on a game plan, pulling all the elements of a football team together and going head to head only for everything to be destroyed by decisions out of your control, it’s infuriating. Poor referees have cost better coaches than myself and Sopheaktra their jobs. However, even Sopheaktra will have to acknowledge this morning that as a leader and role model he cannot behave like that. No referee should ever be physically assaulted or even feel threatened in their job.

Another twist in the tale……

Josemar Agostinho was allegedly racially abused during the game and Tiffy have filed a complaint to CPL. This is unacceptable behavior and if found guilty the coach or staff member in question should be banned for life. Football has no place for racism and the CPL should lay down the marker here with a zero tolerance policy. However given CPL history with Vishaka we’re far more likely to see them apologizing to Vishaka for causing them any trouble. I’ll stress here that this is alleged racism, Josemar has nothing to gain by lying, but it’s innocent until proven guilty not the other way round.

What will happen next…….

Tiffy Army have come out already with a statement stating how unhappy they are with the racial abuse and seemingly decided to not comment on Sopheaktra actions. This means they are likely to go to war with CPL and the FFC on the racial abuse allegations and deflect from the red card to their head coach. As for Sopheaktra there is no doubt he is in big trouble and will face a long ban. All we can hope is he learns from this error because there is no doubt he is a talented coach and could be a future national team coach.