Sunday’s action saw Taichung Futuro, Taipower FC and Taiwan Steel tied for first place on 30 points in the Taiwan Football Premier League, while Hang Yuan FC picked up a point to take the No. 4 spot on 25 points after holding Taipower to a scoreless draw.
In Taoyuan, Tatung FC hosted Taiwan Steel. It was an exciting matchup, as the visitors rallied from 2-0 down to take the game with three goals.
Tatung made good on their chances early on. Honduran midfielder Elias Argueta opened the account 15 minutes into the game with a low shot from the right.
Photo courtesy of the CTFA
Three minutes later, Turkey-born winger Onur Dogan received a pass on the left and raced between two defenders, firing off a diagonal shot that eluded Taiwan Steel goalkeeper Tuan Hsuan.
Taiwan Steel’s Marc Fenelus then took the ball from the center line and raced into the goal area, but was clipped on a tackle and awarded a penalty. The striker from the Turks and Caicos Islands scored from the spot by fooling goalkeeper Derek Shih with a “Panenka,” taking his sixth goal of the season.
Ten minutes after halftime, centerback Chen Wei-chuan took a shot that was blocked by Tatung goalkeeper Derek Shih, but Russian defender Alim Zumakulov slotted in the rebound to equalize.
Three minutes before the final whistle, Haitian winger Benchy Astama took on Tatung defenders at the right edge of the goal area, then passed to forward Chen Wei-jen, who scored the winning shot with a diving header.
A few minutes into the second half of Taichung Futuro’s game against Ming Chuan University, Futuro’s Chao Ming-hsiu sent the ball across the field to Chiang Hao-ren on the left, who raced into the goal area and scored the only goal of the match.
Taipower traveled to New Taipei City to play Hang Yuan, and needed to make an early change when goalkeeper Chiu Yu-hung jumped and collided with Hang Yuan forward Lin Ming-wei. He had to be taken off on a stretcher, and Yang Li-heng replaced him for the remainder of the game.
It was a chippy, physical affair, with players marking each other closely throughout the game. The referee dispensed six yellow cards in total, three to each side, but in the end the teams had to settle for a 0-0 draw.
Meanwhile, National Taiwan University of Sport (NTUS) hosted Red Lions FC. Five minutes after intermission, NTUS centerback Li Ya-she surged forward, then played a wall pass, taking the return inside the penalty box to score a clinical goal.
Red Lions tried to fight back, but late into injury-time NTUS substitute Chen Yen-kai finished off a well-worked series of passes in the penalty box to take the hosts to a 2-0 win.
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