Taiwan’s national soccer team on Thursday suffered a massive defeat against Kuwait, falling 9-0 to the hosts in the second round of qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
While Taiwan are above Kuwait in the FIFA world rankings, they never looked like a match for the hosts, who smashed goal after goal into the back of the net, starting with a header by forward Yousef Nasser in the first 22 minutes.
At kickoff, Taiwan seemed eager to play further up the pitch, and even after Nasser’s goal they maintained their offensive play, but this left their defense vulnerable.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Kuwait kept putting crosses into the box and it was not long before midfielder Fahad al-Ansari scored, giving his team a 2-0 lead by the end of the first half.
The second half only got worse for Taiwan, as Kuwait pressed home their advantage with a goal by forward Murbarak al-Faneni about five minutes after the break.
Although Taiwan fell back in the second half, Kuwait bored through the defense time and time again, with forward Bader al-Mutawa scoring in the 55th minute, Nasser sinking his second goal four minutes later and forward Shabib al-Khalid slamming the ball into the back of the net on 73 minutes.
As if the 7-0 drubbing were not enough at that point, Taiwan defender Chen Wei-chuan scored an own-goal in the 77th minute and Kuwait forward Faisal al-Azemi locked it down with a strike on 81 minutes.
The 9-0 defeat left Taiwan at the bottom of Group B in the second round of Asian qualifiers behind leaders Australia, Kuwait, Jordan and Nepal.
Prior to yesterday’s thrashing by Kuwait, Taiwan had lost to Jordan 2-1, Nepal 2-0 and Australia 7-1.
Winless and with no points on the table, Taiwan’s chances of qualifying for the World Cup in Qatar are scant. They are to face Jordan on Tuesday next week, Nepal on March 26 next year, Australia on April 26 next year and Kuwait on June 9 next year in Group B round-robin matches.
The winners of the eight groups and the four best runners-up progress to the third round.
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