The British Deaflympic men’s soccer team beat Businessman’s League champions Taipei City FC 3-0 in a warmup match in Tianmu yesterday. A 4:30pm kick off on a pitch half covered in shadow with a gentle breeze blowing were about as ideal conditions as the teams could have wished for considering the recent heat.
Taipei City, a team consisting of expats living and working in Taiwan, started the brighter and had the best of the early chances. Steve Raymond went close after 15 minutes with a shot from the right wing that beat Great Britain keeper Craig Rathey but went just wide of the post. Raymond again rocked the generally solid British defense five minutes later with a well-hit strike from a corner that again whistled past the post.
Great Britain were getting more into the game and Jon Evans went close a minute later with a shot from the edge of the penalty area. The deadlock was broken in the 27th minute when the visitor’s Peter Wood scored with a shot from 25m.
Tim Murphy went close for City from a corner, but his header went just wide. Then Eddie Painter produced a good save from Rathey to leave Great Britain 1-0 up at halftime.
Britain’s Daniel Hogan started the second half with a bang, when his shot rebounded off the bar in the first minute, as the Brits pushed forward.
City got no joy from the tight British defense, although substitute Dan Calvert caused some problems, sending a shot just over the bar after 60 minutes.
Five minutes later Britain scored again, Evans finishing the counterattack in style.
There was a fright for the six-time Deaflympic champions after 75 minutes when a heavy challenge caused some consternation but they ended the game with a bang scoring their third three minutes from time.
The final score was hard on City but it was a good workout for Great Britain, looking to retain their title in the Deaflympics soccer tournament starting on Friday at Yingfeng in Taipei.
‘DEVASTATED’: Argentina’s win was a reversal of their 28-24 defeat last week, with Australian forward Fraser McReight adding that ‘we did the same thing last week’ Argentina flyhalf Santiago Carreras punished an undisciplined Australia with 23 points off the tee as the Pumas held on grimly for a 28-26 win in Sydney yesterday to breathe new life into their Rugby Championship campaign. A try-fest beckoned in afternoon sunshine at Sydney Football Stadium, but Argentina needed only one through captain Julian Montoya, with Carreras doing the damage with seven penalties and a conversion in front of a sell-out crowd. A week after letting a 14-point lead slip in a 28-24 defeat to Australia in Townsville, Argentina saw most of a 21-point advantage erased in the final quarter as the
Captain Vijay Kumar led the way yesterday as the Hsinchu Titans claimed the Taiwan Premier League title at the Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山), beating PCCT by 27 runs. The weather was a topic again, but not the rain that played a role in previous matches in the often-delayed tournament. Kumar, who made 80 not out from 63 deliveries, and teammate Vishwajit Kumar (58 from 43) rescued the Titans from a precarious state at the end of the power play in the T20 match. The visitors were put in to bat and struggled to 26-3 as PCCT
China’s state-run People’s Daily newspaper on Monday published an essay about Chinese basketball it said was written by LeBron James, but a representative for the NBA star said on Thursday that the article was based on a series of interviews. The paper, better known as the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, had said James authored the essay, “Basketball is a Bridge that Connects Us,” a tribute to Chinese players and fans of the sport written in the first person. “LeBron James Pens an Article in the People’s Daily,” read a post published on the newspaper’s official WeChat account. On Thursday, a representative
San Francisco Giants pitcher Teng Kai-wei impressed against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday despite an 8-1 loss in the opener of the team’s nine-game road trip. Teng, the only Taiwanese pitcher active in MLB, struck out five while allowing two hits and one walk over four innings at Chase Field to finish with a no decision, as the teams were tied 1-1 when he finished his outing. He surrendered the lone run of his outing in the bottom of the first, which began with a walk, a hit-by-pitch and two strikeouts. Diamondbacks leadoff hitter Geraldo Perdomo advanced to third on
RSS