Taiwan’s under-23 (U23) men’s soccer team salvaged some pride yesterday with an international victory, beating Hong Kong 2-0 at the Kaohsiung National Stadium in the final match of the Asian Football Confederation U23 qualifying group. However, the result was not enough to help the team advance.
Australia proved they are the strongest team in Group F by hammering Myanmar 5-1 in the early game in a match between two previously unbeaten sides.
The U23 Socceroos top the group, followed by Myanmar, who had two wins and a loss, with both advancing to the next round at the expense of Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Photo: Lin Tsung-wei, Taipei Times
Taiwan were under pressure to win in front of a boisterous home crowd, after failing to score in their defeats to Myanmar and Australia.
The hosts went on the offense early on in search of an opening goal. They were rewarded for their attacking efforts when striker Ko Yu-ting opened the account for the hosts in the 38th minute.
A long pass found Ko inside the box and he drilled his shot past the Hong Kong goalkeeper to put his side in front 1-0.
Taiwan doubled their lead in the 42nd minute when attacking midfielder Wen Chih-hao took advantage of a mix-up in the Hong Kong defense, as Wen rounded the goalkeeper and slotted home for the second goal.
In an impressive attacking display Taiwan created more chances in the second half.
In the 57th minute, Wei Yu-jen received the ball on the halfway line and dribbled his way past several defenders before finishing calmly to claim Taiwan’s third goal.
Hong Kong almost got one back in the 64th minute when they had a flurry of good chances and Taiwan’s defense failed to clear the danger, but Taiwan goalkeeper Chiu Yu-hung came to the rescue.
Taiwan could have scored a fourth goal when a blatant foul inside the box resulted in a penalty being awarded. However, striker Chen Chao-an blasted his shot high over the crossbar.
Hong Kong pushed forward in the late stages of the game and were rewarded with a consolation goal when Taiwan’s defense failed to clear the ball on the edge of the box.
Augusto Leung pounced on the ball and struck a low drive into the bottom corner to make the scoreline 3-1.
In the match between Australia and Myanmar, it was all Socceroos through most of the match, with Andrew Hoole scoring a hat-trick, while teammate Jamie Maclaren added a brace. Myanmar could only reply with a single goal by substitute Kaung Sat Naing in the 78th minute.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but