Taiwan’s defense yesterday held firm through the first half, but Indonesian striker Stefano Lilipaly scored a brace after the interval to lead the hosts to a 4-0 win in the Asian Games men’s soccer competition at Patriot Stadium in Bekasi, Indonesia.
Lilipaly found the net off a header in the 66th minute, and five minutes later the hosts doubled the lead when Brazil-born Alberto da Costa scored from a passing combination.
Lilipaly scored on a bicycle-kick on a cross a few minutes later, and substitute Muhammad Hargianto hit a long shot in injury-time to wrap up the match.
Taiwan had two good chances to score: One in the 17th minute, when defender Chen Ting-yang, after a free kick, found himself alone with the ball and only the goalkeeper to beat, but he hit the side netting. Another came just past the 30th minute, when midfielder Chen Chao-an had his shot cleared from in front of the goal line by Indonesia’s defense.
In other Group A results, Adballatif Albahdari scored late in injury-time for Palestine to snatch a 2-1 victory over Laos.
The next game day for Group A is on Wednesday, with Taiwan facing Hong Kong and Indonesia taking on Palestine.
In Group A’s opening round on Friday at Patriot Stadium in Bekasi, Taiwan earned a valuable point by holding Palestine to a scoreless draw.
The shutting down of Palestine’s offense by Taiwan’s fullbacks and the saves of goalkeeper Pan Wen-chieh were praised by fans and sports officials, who hailed the draw as a victory against a superior foe, as Palestine are ranked No. 99 and Taiwan No. 123.
Palestine attempted 38 shots, with Pan saving or parrying 19 to preserve the shutout.
In contrast, Taiwan attempted five shots, four of which were on target, but failed to break the deadlock.
The match marked the return of Taiwan’s men’s national squad to the Asian Games since its departure in 1966. The Sports Administration had not granted them funding to participate, because of their low world ranking.
“We accomplished a ‘mission impossible’ today,” team manager Peng Wu-sung said after the match.
“Our team is ranked much lower than Palestine, but each player put forth their best effort — and our defensive strategy was a success,” Peng said. “We had to rely on the resolute defense put up by goalkeeper Pan, along with fullbacks Wang Ruei and Chen Ting-yang.”
“It’s my job to keep the ball out, so I fought hard,” Pan said. “We did not allow the opposition to score, so I consider that an excellent result.”
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