Taipei City FC became the first expat team in 16 years to win the BML title when they defeated Fritz FC 2-1 in a thrilling final match of the season on Sunday at Bai Lin Bridge in Taipei.
Heading into Sunday's showdown, played out in front of approximately 100, mostly expat, fans, Fritz topped the league by three points from City with both teams level on goal difference.
A win or draw would be enough for Fritz to retain the title they had won for the past three seasons whereas nothing less than victory would do for City.
PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHAEL BROOKHART
Not surprisingly both teams made a nervous start but after an edgy opening quarter of an hour City settled, gaining the upper hand in terms of possession and starting to create goal-scoring opportunities.
The expat side piled on the pressure and broke the deadlock after 30 minutes when great work down the left by Ross Conlon resulted in a cross being parried out to the edge of the box. There to connect was Michael Christie who drove in a low accurate shot to put City one up.
Fritz reacted by starting to play the pass and move soccer for which they are renowned. This combined with the fact that City seemed to be content to sit on their lead meant that Fritz dominated the last 15 minutes of the half.
Quick one-two interchange passing and great movement caused City real problems and just before the stroke of half-time a low ball to the near post was met with a tidy finish by Fritz's Hsu Te-ming to make it 1-1.
The second half began with City turning up the pressure and upping the quality of their passing and their tenacity with Fritz drawn into committing themselves too far up the pitch and looking vulnerable on the break.
On 65 minutes a great through ball from John Phillips found Daniel Calvert running through on goal with just the on-rushing Fritz goalkeeper to beat. The Englishman pushed the ball to the right of the keeper, managing to round him, before slotting home with his left into an empty net.
The goal spurred Fritz to raise the level of their game and it took some fine work by the City midfield and defense to keep them at bay, with Tim Murphy particularly impressive.
City were finding it hard to find an outlet up field and Fritz could sense that the title was theirs to take.
Ball upon ball was played into the City penalty area with the last gasp defending getting more and more desperate.
In the final minute a perfect ball was delivered to the head of an onrushing Miao Chin-chung who headed the ball to the left of City goalkeeper Neil O'Maonaigh-Lennon.
It looked bound for the net but an amazing reflex save by the City keeper tipped the ball away and with it Fritz's title hopes.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
RSS