If, when you went out to buy your paper this morning, you noticed there were no foreigners about, there is a good reason.
The annual Tavern Premier Summer Cup soccer tournament for expat teams is being held in Taipei this weekend, and buses and trains full of foreign soccer players from all around the nation -- Kaohsiung, Tainan, Nantou, Taichung, Hsinchu, Hualien and Taipei -- were all heading up to Taipei last night and early this morning to take part.
This year's Summer Cup is the biggest ever staged, with 20 teams competing today and tomorrow.
The group stages will be played today, starting at 9:30am. Games will be played on three pitches and will last 25 minutes each. There will be five groups of four teams, with the top two after the group games progressing to the second group stage of the cup competition which starts this afternoon and culminates in the final tomorrow afternoon.
Teams that do not make the cup competition will not be forgotten, however, as they will enter a plate competition that begins this afternoon and finishes tomorrow.
Last year's cup winners Manattak, who have once again been renamed and are now Tubbies Juice, return for their last competition before disbanding for good (or so they say).
They will face stiff competition from Tainan Phoenix, who won the Taichung Spring Cup earlier this year, and the team they beat in Taichung -- the Carnegies FC from Taipei. Taiwan's two oldest expat teams, the Red Lions and the Taipei Animals, will also provide tough opposition.
Unknown quantities such as the Taipei Black Stars, a team formed by Ghanaians living in Taiwan, Depotivo LRC and Reach to Teach, who say they are an American football team looking to teach these soccer guys a lesson, may provide some upsets along the way.
The action will take place at the Yingfeng Sports Park (迎風河濱運動場靠近濱江街, 台北), next to Dajia Riverside Park, off Bingjiang Street in Taipei.
Snacks, soft drinks and beer will be available to supporters.
Following the action today, the teams are off to the Summer Cup Pool and Dance Party at the Taipei Country Club (
The entrance fee for the party is NT$600.
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