The Chinese Taipei Football Association (CTFA) yesterday announced that Louis Lancaster has been dismissed as head coach of the men’s national team due to recent losses in FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
Association executives reached the decision after meetings yesterday and assessing the team’s overall record for this year, and made it official in a statement saying that Lancaster’s contract would be terminated at the end of this month.
The Englishman had been under severe pressure to lead the team to victory or even obtain points in the second round of 2022 World Cup qualifiers, but Taiwan suffered five consecutive defeats in their Group B games since September.
The slide began with a 2-1 defeat to Jordan on Sept. 2 at the Taipei Municipal Stadium, followed five days later by a 2-0 loss to Nepal, also at home, which most fans and pundits believed should have been a victory, based on Taiwan’s higher ranking.
It went from bad to worse in three qualifiers in the past two months, as Taiwan yielded 21 goals and scored only one in matches against Australia (7-1), Kuwait (9-0) and Jordan (5-0).
“We have wrapped up all of this year’s international matches and it is time for an assessment of the national team’s performance,” CTFA secretary-general Fang Ching-Jen said.
“We invited Louis Lancaster to a committee meeting to receive his report, discuss the team’s performance and set out the direction for the future. After that, we held a closed-door meeting and decided to terminate Lancaster’s contract at the end of this month,” Fang said. “We informed Lancaster of the decision, which he said he could understand.”
Fang and other association executives expressed their gratitude for Lancaster’s efforts since the start of the year, when he was named head coach, wishing him well in his future endeavors.
Lancaster’s contract was scheduled to run out at the end of next month.
LOCAL CHAMPIONS
Separately, in the season finale of Taiwan’s top soccer division, Taipei Tatung on Sunday secured a third consecutive championship title with a 2-0 victory over Kaohsiung Taipower.
Tatung forward Marc Fenelus, from the Turks and Caicos Islands, scored both goals, the first on a penalty in the 14th minute and the second a header just before halftime.
Taichung Blue Whale also made it three Women’s Mulan League titles in as many years when they beat Hualien 5-2 in the finale on Nov. 9 at Taichung’s Taiyuan Soccer Field.
The New Taipei Kings claimed the inaugural Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL) championship on Sunday, defeating the Kaohsiung FamilyMart Aquas 108-89 in the final. Playing at home, the Kings pulled ahead with Jeremy Lin’s (林書豪) clutch three-pointers, securing their victory over the Aquas in the TPBL final. The Kings came out strong in the first quarter, dominating to build a 35-18 lead. By halftime, they had stretched their advantage to 61-38. In the third quarter, the Aquas narrowed the deficit to 12 points, but Lin stepped up, sinking several tough three- pointers to extend the lead. In the final quarter, the Kings pushed the
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