Taiwan’s national soccer team fell to a 6-1 defeat at the hands of North Korea yesterday in the second round of East Asian Cup qualifiers at the Mong Kok Stadium in Hong Kong.
North Korea were 3-0 up at halftime. An Il-bom scored in the 28th minute, Pak Song-chol extended the lead six minutes later and Ri Kwang-hyok netted three minutes before the break.
On 65 minutes, Pak Nam-chol made it four and Ri Myong-jun added the fifth two minutes later.
Chen Hao-wei got a consolation for Taiwan in the 79th minute, but Ri Myong-jun added his second and North Korea’s sixth a minute before fulltime.
In the earlier match, hosts Hong Kong defeated Guam 2-1.
Chan Siu-ki scored the hosts first goal in the second minute of the game, before heading the second in the 17th to put Hong Kong in control. Guam managed to pull one back through Elias Merfalen in the 56th minute.
Taiwan are not in action tomorrow, when North Korea take on Guam at the Mong Kok Stadium at 5:50pm, followed by the hosts against Australia at 8:30pm.
Australia coach Holger Osieck told Australia’s Herald Sun newspaper his side, 33rd in FIFA’s world rankings, would not take Hong Kong, ranked No. 172, lightly.
“You must not discount the local team,” Osieck said. “It’s the start of the tournament, they’ve got the support, they are fresh and full of enthusiasm. If you play that team in the last game they may have dropped some points and it’s a different situation, but here they are full of energy and so I would never underestimate them. The first game of every tournament is always the most important and then you see how it goes.”
The winners of the tournament, which finishes next Sunday, face South Korea, Japan and China in the finals of the competition in South Korea next year.
The 2025 International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB) Mr Universe Chinese Taipei competition began yesterday at Xinzhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City, with more than 150 athletes showcasing their physiques. It is the first time in 16 years that the IFBB has held a competition in Taiwan, the last being the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung. The professional bodybuilding contest is bringing together athletes from Taiwan and 16 other countries, including Malaysia, Japan, the US, France and Mexico. IFBB Chinese Taipei president Hsu An-chin said in an interview yesterday that the event came to Taiwan thanks to his lobbying efforts at last
Top seeds Alexander Zverev of Germany and American Coco Gauff on Tuesday advanced to the third round of the Canadian Open after both players were pushed hard by their opponents. World No. 3 Zverev, playing in his first match since his first-round loss at Wimbledon, was far from his best, but emerged with a 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 win over Adam Walton under the lights in Toronto. Momentum shifted firmly in Zverev’s favor when he won a 52-shot rally in the first set tiebreak and he sealed the win on a double fault by the Australian in the second set. “It was a very
Cycling great Marianne Vos won the opening stage of the women’s Tour de France with a brilliant late attack on Saturday. The 38-year-old Dutchwoman overtook her Visma–Lease a Bike teammate Pauline Ferrand-Prevot approaching the line, and then held off Mauritian rider Kim Le Court in the closing meters of a grueling uphill finish. Ferrand-Prevot looked set to win the stage, but the Frenchwoman attacked too early from 600m and could not withstand the late surge from Vos, who punched the air with her left fist as she crossed the line. Moments later, Vos hugged an exhausted-looking Ferrand-Prevot, the Paris-Roubaix winner. “I didn’t know if
US top seed Taylor Fritz dropped an early yesterday morning marathon to Alejandro Davidovich-Fokina of Spain, while the UK’s Emma Raducanu and Canada’s Leylah Fernandez reached the semi-finals of the ATP and WTA DC Open. World number four Fritz, two points from victory in the ninth game, dropped the last five games in falling to the 26th-ranked Spaniard 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 7-5 after three hours and five minutes in a match ending just before 2am. Davidovich-Fokina advanced to the semi-final against US fourth seed Ben Shelton, who beat sixth-seeded hometown hero Frances Tiafoe 7-6 (7/2), 6-4. Fritz, who had 20 aces and six
RSS