Li Mao yesterday starred for Taiwan in their opening match of the CTFA17 International Tournament at the Taipei Municipal Stadium as the hosts defeated the Philippines 3-0.
Taiwan scored a hat-trick of headers, with Li grabbing a brace, as they convincingly saw off probably the strongest of the other three teams in the tournament.
However, there were some nervous moments for the home crowd in the fourth minute when Angel Guirado put the ball in the net for the visitors, only for his effort to be ruled out after the assistant referee flagged that the ball crossed the byline before being pulled back.
Photo courtesy of the Chinese Taipei Football Association
Li’s breakthrough came in the 38th minute, when his header from a free-kick gave Philippine goalkeeper Nicholas O’Donnell no chance.
He had a chance to double the lead four minutes later, but his shot was handily saved by an outrushing O’Donnell.
In the 53rd minute, the Philippines had the ball in the net again, but the effort was once more ruled out, this time for offside.
Li then doubled Taiwan’s lead in the 63rd minute when he headed in Yu Chia-huang’s cross from the right.
The visitors were reduced to 10 men four minutes later when Guirado was shown a red card for deliberately elbowing Chen Yi-wei.
Chen Ting-yang wrapped up the victory in the 81st minute when he got in front of his marker to head home substitute Will Donkin’s corner from the left.
Yu had a chance to add a fourth in stoppage-time, but he failed to convert Donkin’s cross from the edge of the six-yard box.
In the earlier match, Laos defeated nine-man East Timor 2-1.
Laos took the lead in the third minute when Nonmany Chiu converted a penalty, before Natphasouk Soukchinda added a second in the 41st minute.
Cruz Henrique scored a consolation for East Timor in the 84th minute after his side was reduced to nine men following red cards for both Trindade Avelino and Oliveira Filipe in the second half.
Taiwan will next face East Timor at 7pm today at the Taipei Municipal Stadium.
ANFIELD BLUES: Kylian Mbappe arrived at Anfield on a run of 21 goals in 17 games, but he managed just three attempts in the match, none of them hitting the target Kylian Mbappe has been nearly unstoppable this season, but he hit a roadblock in their UEFA Champions League match at Anfield on Tuesday. For the second year running, the Real Madrid forward had a night to forget at Merseyside as Liverpool won 1-0. Mbappe looked a shadow of the player who has been tearing defenses apart all season. “We were lacking that threat in the final third,” said Madrid coach Xabi Alonso, without naming Mbappe individually. The FIFA World Cup winner for France rarely looked capable of finding a breakthrough against a Liverpool team who have been so defensively fragile for much of the
LOCAL SUCCESS: In the doubles, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in straight sets Elena Rybakina on Monday punched her ticket to the WTA Finals last four with an impressive 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory over second seed Iga Swiatek in round-robin play in Riyadh. After cruising past Amanda Anisimova in her opener on Saturday, Rybakina claimed her second win of the week to guarantee herself top spot in the Serena Williams Group. Anisimova on Monday rallied back from a set and a break down to triumph 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in her all-American battle with seventh seed Madison Keys, who has been eliminated from the competition. “Madi was playing so well, it was quite a battle out there,”
Erling Haaland on Sunday scored twice to propel Manchester City up to second in the English Premier League with a 3-1 win over AFC Bournemouth. The Cherries started the day in second thanks to the longest unbeaten run in the English top flight, but Andoni Iraola’s side were undone by the scintillating form of the Norwegian striker, who took his tally to 13 Premier League goals in 10 games. Haaland’s relentless streak is maintaining City’s title challenge as they reduced the gap to leaders Arsenal back to six points and edged one point ahead of Liverpool, who they face at the weekend. “Important
For almost 30 minutes, Vitomir Maricic did not take a breath. Face down in a pool, surrounded by anxious onlookers, the Croatian freediver fought spasming pain to redefine what doctors thought was possible. When he finally surfaced, he had smashed the previous Guinness World Record for the longest breath-hold underwater by nearly five minutes. However, even with the help of pure oxygen before the attempt, it had pushed him to the limit. “Everything was difficult, just overwhelming,” Maricic, 40, told reporters, reflecting on the record-breaking day on June 14. “When I dive, I completely disconnect from everything, as if I’m not even there.
RSS