A dour Chen Kuei-jen, the coach of Taiwan’s national soccer team, tried to boost player and fan morale by saying that he is still confident of advancing to the group stage of Asian qualifying for the FIFA 2018 World Cup by grabbing an away victory in Brunei on Tuesday.
Chen came under much pressure and media scrutiny following his side’s 1-0 defeat on Thursday by Asian soccer minnows Brunei — who have a world ranking of 198, while Taiwan is ranked 188th — as the hosts put on a mostly poor, erratic performance, despite being ranked 14 places higher and playing at home in front of a large crowd.
Video replays show that the goal, originally credited to Adi Said, was scored by Shahrazen Said — Adi’s brother — who launched a speculative lob from near the right touchline about halfway into Taiwan’s half which eluded the goalkeeper’s grasp to drop into the net.
Adi Said got in front of the goalkeeper, but he did not make contact with the ball, while Taiwan’s Chiu Yu-hsiung did a passable impression of Arsenal and England goalkeeper David Seaman in the 1994-1995 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup final against Real Zaragoza, which featured a similar goal.
Chen seemed to be clutching at straws when it came to the reasons for his side’s poor performance.
“Most of the team’s practice sessions were held during the daytime. The game was played at night and we had to adjust,” he said. “The stadium lighting dazzled our goalkeeper, so he was unable to see the ball clearly and could not make the save.”
Chiu admitted he was at fault.
“Yes, I faltered on that one... I was hesitating, deciding whether to try to block the ball or catch it,” he said, adding that Taiwan did most of the attacking.
“But it’s the same old problem, the players lacked the final finish. We wasted too many opportunities,” he added.
“There were maybe three good chances to score in the first half. In the second half we got past defenders and had several one-on-one situations in front of the goal, but our players could not find the lethal finish required to find the net. These were the main reasons we lost the game,” Chen said.
The spotlight is now on the coach after he failed to deliver on his boastful promise before the game that his team possessed a potent attack, due to him having the most “international” and strongest Taiwan squad ever.
Prior to the game, Chen also said he would put his life on the line to achieve a victory at home and he promised the Taiwanese fans goals.
However, many fans were disappointed with the poor performance and the lack of imagination and creativity shown by goal-shy Taiwan.
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