Hualien City and Taichung Blue Whale — the top two teams in the Taiwan Mulan Football League — are to resume the race for the title today, with all six teams to play at the National Taiwan Sport University ground in Taoyuan.
After a month off, New Taipei Hang Yuan (5 points, in fifth place) face bottom-of-the-table Kaohsiung Sunny Bank (2 points, sixth) at 10am.
Leaders Hualien City (28 points), undefeated so far with eight wins and two draws, are to take on Taipei Bravo (20 points, third) at 2pm.
Hosts Inter Taoyuan (11 points, fourth) are to play Taichung Blue Whale (21 points, second) at 4:30pm.
Receipts bearing a uniform invoice number for last month or this month would be accepted for entry for spectators, Mulan league officials said, adding that prizes would be drawn at the games for those who have the OQR Ticket App.
Tomorrow’s venue in Gueishan District is a 15-to-20-minute walk from the Taoyuan Airport MRT’s A7 National Taiwan Sport University Station, they said.
Blue Whale, champions since 2017, are expected to mount a late-season surge to challenge Hualien, although Taipei Bravo are also poised to take the scrap right to the end of the season.
Mulan League officials yesterday said that a number of big signings have added extra interest to competit ion.
Blue Whale have added Hong Kong goalkeeper Ng Cheuk Wai, the officials said.
Sunny Bank executives dug deep to bolster the team, confirming that JEF United Chiba star defender Minori Wakabayashi would join them from Japan, along with California native Sienna Zabroski, who played for University of California, Riverside on the US college circuit, and veteran defender Lin Chiun-ying, a Taiwan representative.
Wakabayashi told reporters: “From now on, I am a member of the Kaohsiung Sunny Bank club. It was not easy, with most of the world under severe conditions from the COVID-19 pandemic, so I had help from many people to make this transfer successful.”
“So right now I am very happy to complete the process,” she said,
“My priority is to help my team to win games and I will contribute everything toward gaining victory,” she said. “I also look forward to learning from and receiving advice from my new coaches and teammates.”
Wakabayashi was to transfer to Italy to play for AS Roma’s women’s side after this year’s season finished in Japan, but the pandemic scuttled the deal, the officials said, adding that they stepped in when a deal seemed feasible.
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