Taiwan national team manager Henry Vom on Sunday had a successful debut in charge of Taichung Futuro, winning 3-2 against league leaders Taipower with a goal deep in stoppage-time, which combined with the results from the other matches saw the gaps close at the top of the Taiwan Football Premier League table.
Besides the big win for Futuro, Hang Yuan edged Taitung 1-0, Taiwan Steel dominated National Taiwan University of Sport 4-1 and the Red Lions held Ming Chuan University to a 1-1 draw.
Vom took over Futuro after previous coach Toshiaki Imai returned home to Japan.
Photo courtesy of the CTFA
Imai, who also managed the national team in 2016, had done well with a string of wins early in the season as Futuro and Taipower traded places at the top of the table.
Sunday’s match was also a battle between Taiwan national team coaches, with Vom, who was appointed in February, taking on Taipower’s Chen Kuei-jen, who held the job from 2013 to 2016.
With Taiwan’s FIFA World Cup qualifiers having been suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic and with the future still uncertain, Vom has doubled up on his duties, much the same as Chen when he led Taipower and the national team from 2015 to 2016.
Hosts Taipower took the lead when Lai Chih-hsuan fired home a low shot in the 12th minute at the National Stadium in Kaohsiung.
Futuro’s South Korean striker Joo Ik-seong equalized on the half-hour mark when his dummy bamboozled Taipower goalkeeper Chiu Yu-hung.
Joo then grabbed his second soon after halftime when he received the ball and advanced into the penalty area to beat Chiu once again.
Futuro looked to heading for the victory until Ko Yu-ting lashed home a long-range shot three minutes from time to tie the match 2-2.
Just as it looked as though both sides had settled for the draw, Futuro substitute Lee Cheng-yun, whom Vom had put on in the 82nd minute, latched onto a long pass and headed over Chiu for the winner.
The loss saw leader’s Taipower remain on 26 points from 12 games, while Futuro moved up to 24 points in second, ahead of Hang Yuan only on goals scored after forward Chou Yu-chieh netted the only goal of their game against Tatung in the 86th minute in New Taipei City.
Tatung remain fifth, two points behind Taiwan Steel, but having played an extra game.
National Taiwan University of Sport are sixth on 10 points, while Ming Chuan University with five points are seventh, ahead of the Red Lions on goal-difference.
Kylian Mbappe struck from the penalty spot as Real Madrid beat a dogged CA Osasuna 1-0 on Tuesday to make a winning start in Spanish La Liga under new coach Xabi Alonso. The France striker, last season’s European Golden Shoe winner, scored early in the second half, after he was fouled in the area by Osasuna defender Juan Cruz. It was enough to seal the points in Alonso’s first game in charge at the Santiago Bernabeu, with Madrid now unbeaten in their opening fixture of a league campaign since 2008. “You can see that Kylian wants to do even more
TO THE TOP: After securing the international title on Saturday, Team Taiwan were to face Las Vegas to potentially win their 18th Little League World Series championship A team from Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School won the Little League Baseball World Series’ international title on Saturday by defeating Aruba 1-0 in the annual baseball tournament held in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The Taiwan team, competing under the name Chinese Taipei, were after press time last night to face a team from Las Vegas, Nevada, which beat a team from Fairfield, Connecticut, in the US championship 8-2. Taiwan are seeking to win their first Little League Baseball World Series title since 1996. “Really haven’t taken a moment to data dump right now on Taiwan,” Nevada manager T.J. Fescher said. “They’re a
‘CATASTROPHE’: Despite losing several key forwards in the summer transfer window, Bayern were up 3-0 in the first half before Harry Kane scored a hat-trick in the second Harry Kane hit a hat-trick, Michael Olise a double and newcomer Luis Diaz also scored as Bayern Munich made a “statement” against RB Leipzig 6-0 at home in the Bundesliga season opener on Friday. Bayern’s big-money arrivals, all brought in from the Premier League across the past three seasons, were dominant as the Bavarians begun their title defense in style. Olise scored twice in the first half, either side of a Diaz strike. Not to be outdone, Kane scored three goals in the second half — with two assists coming from Diaz, to bring Bayern’s total to 6-0. Kane told the Bundesliga
Kevin de Bruyne is to lead SSC Napoli’s Serie A title defense today when he makes his full debut at promoted US Sassuolo, but the champions head into the new season rocked by a long-term injury to star striker Romelu Lukaku. De Bruyne was, alongside aging icon Luka Modric, the big new name to arrive in Italy this summer and fans were hoping his linkup with Belgium teammate Lukaku would push Napoli to success both at home and in their return to the UEFA Champions League. The 34-year-old has suffered from hamstring injuries which caused him to miss significant chunks of the