Chinese Taipei's Olympic flag flew high at Taipei's Chungshan Soccer Stadium yesterday as the 14th Asian Women's Football Championship got off to a noisy start.
Unlike the recent Baseball World Cup, however, the terraces weren't awash with Taiwan's national colors.
Officials had earlier appealed to fans not to fly the red, white and blue colors of Taiwan and refrain from chanting "Taiwan," so as to avoid turning the event into a political spectacle rather than a sporting event.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁)opened the championship with a few words of encouragement to the teams' fans, many of whom were still wearing their school uniforms.
Happy hosts
"We're happy to be hosting the 14th AFC Championship and hope that both the players and fans will enjoy the sporting event with as much passion as the Baseball World Cup was enjoyed," the president said.
PHOTO: REUTERS
But it was Huang Shih-cheng (
"Football has come home," Huang said, recalling the nation's football glory days of the 1970s and 1980s.
"[Taiwan] was one of the first countries to play football in Asia and it's fantastic that we are once again able to play host to an international football competition."
The lack of the national color and the cold breeze that whipped through the stadium didn't mute the rowdy reception the home fans gave their team when it took to the field minutes before its opening match against Malaysia.
Looking to repeat -- if not surpass -- the behemoth 16-0 drubbing it gave Malaysia in the 1999 AFC Championship, Taiwan got off the blistering start.
Taiwan should have capitalized on a string of Malaysian midfield blunders within the opening five minutes.
Malaysia's luck ran out in the 14th minute when Lin Chi-i (
While Taiwan heaped on the pressure the suspect Malaysian defense rallied to try and keep the white shirts of Taiwan at bay.
The complexion of the game changed, however, when the referee red carded a Malaysian defender in the 25th minute after a midair collision in the Malaysian box.
With the visitors reduced to ten women, Taiwan's Lin calmly stepped up to the spot and blasted home.
Before the visitors had time to digest the second goal, Taiwan's unmarked Chen Ya-ling (
Five minutes later it was the turn of Huang Chun-lan (黃春蘭) to hammer home a fourth and the rout was on.
With the Malaysian defense full of more holes than a slab of Swiss cheese, Chang Hui-ching (
By the time the referee blew the halftime whistle, Taiwan was leading by six unanswered goals.
Humiliation
Taiwan began the second half at a much slower pace.
Even without the need for excess pressure, Taiwan's strikers found themselves within meters of the Malaysian goalmouth within the opening minutes.
In the 66th minute Lin Chi-i dribbled her way into the area, making mincemeat of the defense on her way and tapped home her third.
A minute later Taiwan's forward line humiliated the visitors once again and Huang Chun-lan headed home the home team's eighth.
Three more goals followed in quick succession and saw the visiting team reduced to mere spectators.
Lin added to Malaysia's misery when she got her fourth and Taiwan's 12th, Huang made it 13 and Taiwan's star player, Lin finished things off when she made it 14.
"I was expecting at least eight goals," admitted Malaysian coach, Jacob Joseph after the match.
"But after we lost a woman to a very bad refereeing decision the game was lost. What happened, happened and it couldn't be helped."
While more upbeat about his team's 14-goal victory, Taiwan coach Chang Ming-shen still felt there was room for improvement.
"Today we could have scored 17 or 20 goals, but the Malaysian players were a lot tougher than we'd expected," said Chang.
"We weren't as tight as I'd have hoped for and I will be working on this for the upcoming matches."
Japan 14, Singapore 0
Japan showed it has grown into a world soccer power with its demolition of Singapore yesterday.
With five goals from Isaka Mito and four from Sawa Homare, Japan was clearly the best side from the off and never relinquished its grip on the game.
A rash of substitutions throughout the game made it a messy match to watch, but Japan will be buoyed by the result.
North Korea 19, Guam 0
Soccer minnow Guam was the weakest link yesterday. It was unable to hold back the floodgates to a 19-goal victory for North Korea, which has got off to just the start it was looking forward to.
North Korea applied pressure from the start and scored two goals in the first three minutes.
In the second half they scored even quicker, with a three-goal burst inside three minutes.
Guam looks to be the weakest side in the tournament, but the North Koreans showed that they have the ability to make some impression on the event.
South Korea 7, India 0
South Korea was made to work by India, but nevertheless won easily by seven goals.
with additional reporting by Jules Quartly
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