FRIENDLY
Paraguay defeat Cameroon
Stalwart striker Roque Santa Cruz scored the winner as Paraguay beat World Cup qualifiers Cameroon 2-1 in a friendly in Kufstein, Austria, on Thursday. Paraguay, who missed out on Brazil after playing at the previous four World Cup tournaments, went ahead with Oscar Romero’s first goal for his country in the fifth minute. Former Bayern Munich, Blackburn Rovers and Manchester City striker Santa Cruz put the South Americans further ahead when he tapped in from close range in the 68th minute, the 32-year-old’s 29th international goal. Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting pulled one back for the Indomitable Lions with 15 minutes remaining and Mohamadou Idrissou wasted a chance to equalize when his 87th-minute penalty was saved by Paraguay’s substitute goalkeeper Victor Centurion. Cameroon, who beat Macedonia 2-0 on Monday and are to meet Germany tomorrow, have Croatia, Mexico and Brazil in their pool at the World Cup.
FRIENDLY
Honduras lose to Turkey
Honduras made a poor start to their World Cup warm-up campaign suffering a 2-0 defeat to Turkey in Washington on Thursday. Second-half goals from Mevlut Erding and Caner Erkin secured victory for a young Turkey team, who dominated after the break. Honduras have been drawn in Group E with France, Switzerland and Ecuador and will need to raise their performance in their next friendlies against Israel tomorrow and England on June 7 if they are to have a chance of progressing at the World Cup. The Hondurans lacked penetration in attack, but their real problems in the second half were at the other end of the field as their defense struggled to deal with a wave of Turkey attacks. Erding had a golden chance to open the scoring in the 56th minute when Erkin found him just 5m out, but he shot straight at Valladares before he made amends 14 minutes later when he slotted home. Erding then turned provider for the second goal seven minutes from the end when Erkin blasted home a powerful diagonal drive into the far corner.
IVORY COAST
Ministry urges support
The Ministry of Sport on Thursday launched an official campaign to drum up support in the troubled west African country for the national soccer team at the World Cup. Under the slogan “win for the Ivory Coast,” the ministry appealed for the nation to rally around the Elephants as they prepare to head to the finals in Brazil. The ministry urged the population to rally behind captain Didier Drogba and his teammates by “disregarding political, religious and other divides to unite as one to push ‘our Elephants’ towards victory.” The World Cup campaign should be “a time of gathering, mixing of populations and exchanges to put the spotlight on the national team and support it, but also to allow Ivorians to communicate in public and in neighborhoods.
COSTA RICA
Striker ruled out of Cup
The nation’s World Cup hopes suffered a major blow on Thursday when striker Alvaro Saborio was ruled out of next month’s finals with a fractured metatarsal. Saborio suffered the injury in a closed-door training session on Thursday morning, and coach Jorge Luis Pinto later told a news conference his first-choice forward would miss the entire tournament. Costa Rica are to face England, Italy and Uruguay in Group D in Brazil. The 32-year-old Saborio, who plays for Real Salt Lake in Major League Soccer, has scored 32 goals in 93 games for his country.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
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