Cambodia defeated Taiwan 2-0 at home in Phnom Penh last night, with goals in each half, thus winning the two-legged tie 4-2 on aggregate in the qualifying round for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup.
Taiwan, under Japanese head coach Satoshi Imai, elected to go with 4-4-2 formation, with strikers Wu Chun-ching and Tseng Chih-wei up front.
Wu spearheaded several forays in the early going to test Cambodian goalkeeper Sou Yaty, but could not find the net.
In the seventh minute, the hosts opened the scoring on a free-kick, with midfielder Chan Vathanaka floating his cross from the right, and striker Hong Pheng leaping high for a header to score.
In the second half, the referee gave Taiwan ’keeper Pan Wen-chieh a yellow card for upending an opposition player inside the box in the 57th minutes and awarded a penalty-kick to Cambodia.
It was up to midfielder Prak Mony Udom to take the penalty and he blasted high into the back of the net. However, the referee made him retake the penalty, due to players charging early into the box, and Udom went the other way, sending his shot low to the right side and putting the hosts ahead 2-0.
The best chance for Taiwan came in five minutes after the half, when on a free-kick, Taiwan midfielder Lin Chien-hsun, with only the goalkeeper to beat, headed the ball against the post.
Cambodia could have added to their lead on several occasions, and the last chance came with four minutes from time, when striker Chreng Polroth blasted the ball high over the posts in a one-on-one play in front of Taiwan’s goal.
The victory sent the full stadium of more than 50,000 Cambodian fans into celebration, while leaving Taiwan to rue not being able to capitalize on their chances, and Imai still looking for his first win in an international match in his second stint at the helm.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB