Completing their three-game tour in India with a defeat to Kenya, the Taiwan men’s soccer team returned home yesterday, as officials announced an international friendly with Malaysia on Sept. 7.
Taiwan’s participation in the Hero Intercontinental Cup in Mumbai, India, last week concluded when they were trounced by Kenya 4-0 on Friday.
India suffered a surprising home defeat on Thursday when New Zealand beat them 2-1.
The All Whites made a fine accounting of themselves in group-level play with two wins and one loss — the same record as the hosts and Kenya.
Based on total goals, India faced Kenya in the cup finale, as they led the four-nation group with plus seven, followed by Kenya with plus two.
Taiwan’s three defeats were overall poor performances with a weak defense and impotent attacks, netting zero goals in the competition while yielding 10.
Taiwan’s regular goalkeeper, Pan Wen-chieh, was injured in Friday’s match and was replaced between the posts in the second-half by reserve keeper Chiu Yu-hung.
The opposition took advantage of erratic Chiu to net four goals in the second half for the 4-0 outcome.
Dennis Odhiambo opened the account a few minutes into the new half, then Jockins Atudo doubled the lead from the penalty line two minutes later.
Chiu conceded a soft goal to Timothy Otiendo in the 69th minute and late in the game Atudo grabbed his brace from a set-piece play.
After the game, Taiwan’s English head coach Gary White was quoted as saying: “The first half against Kenya, we were fantastic, but in the second half, we had disastrous individual mistakes.”
“There are positives to take from this game as we prepare to take part in the Asia Games later this year,” he added.
In the Thursday match, India had a good start when team captain Sunil Chhetri made New Zealand goalkeeper Michael Woud pay for a badly hit clearance in front of the goal just after halftime.
However, New Zealand equalized on a goal by Andre De Jong a few minutes later, and they continued to push on, as Moses Dyer scored with just four minutes left in the match to complete the comeback 2-1 win by the All Whites.
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