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.
BOUNCE BACK: Curry scored 46 points in the Warriors’ victory over the Spurs, after ‘everybody stepped up’ following Tuesday’s blowout loss to Oklahoma City Nikola Jokic scoring 50 or more points had never been enough for the Denver Nuggets to win — until now. Jokic on Wednesday night tied the highest-scoring performance in the NBA this season with 55 points, as the Nuggets beat the Los Angeles Clippers 130-116 for their sixth straight victory. The Nuggets were 0-4 in his previous 50-point outbursts. “It’s a good feeling,” the three-time NBA Most Valuable Player said. He equaled Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who had 55 in a double-overtime game at the Indiana Pacers on Oct. 23. Jokic has been on a roll during Denver’s winning streak. He is the
TIGHT GAME: The Detroit Pistons, the NBA’s second-best team, barely outlasted the Washington Wizards, who fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss Cade Cunningham’s triple double, Daniss Jenkins’ three-pointer at the buzzer and Javonte Green’s overtime dunk lifted Detroit past Washington 137-135 on Monday, stretching the Pistons’ win streak to seven games. In an unexpected thriller, the NBA’s second-best team barely outlasted a Wizards club that fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss. “We knew how big this game was for us,” Jenkins said. “We wasn’t going to let nothing stop us from getting this W.” Cunningham made 14-of-45 shots and 16-of-18 free throws for a career-high 46 points, and added 12 rebounds, 11 assists, five steals and two
The tri-nation Twenty20 international series featuring hosts Pakistan, as well as Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, is to be played entirely in Rawalpindi from Tuesday next week, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said yesterday, after this week’s suicide bombing in the capital, Islamabad. The change came after at least eight Sri Lankan players asked to leave over security fears following Tuesday’s bombing that killed 12 people and wounded 27. Their country’s cricket board issued a stern directive to the team to stay put or face consequences. Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) said the decision to stay was taken after “close consultations” with hosts Pakistan who
LIKE FINE WINE: Thirty-eight-year-old Djokovic won his 101st title of his career in Athens, becoming the oldest tournament winner since Ken Roswell, 44, in 1977 Elena Rybakina on Saturday clinched her biggest title since Wimbledon in 2022, defeating world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 7-6 (7/0) at the WTA Finals in Riyadh. The world No. 6 put on yet another serving masterclass and was at her returning best as she became the first Kazakh and the first player representing an Asian country to lift the WTA Finals singles trophy. Having gone 3-0 in round-robin play, Rybakina earned a record US$5.235 million and would finish the year ranked No. 5 in the world. “It’s been an incredible week, I honestly didn’t expect any result, and to go so far,
RSS