Taiwan Steel on Sunday defeated Hang Yuan 3-1 to clinch the Taiwan Football Premier League (TFPL) title with a match to spare after Taipower were held to a 1-1 draw by National University of Sport.
The victory saw Tainan achieve the rare achievement of being “double champions” after the Uni-President Lions baseball team won the CPBL championship earlier this month against the CTBC Brothers.
Turks and Caicos striker Marc Fenelus powered a header into the top corner to give the league leaders an early lead over Hang Yuan in New Taipei City.
Photo courtesy of the CTFA
Just before the hour mark, Hang Yuan defender Hsu Yi fouled Haitian forward Benchy Astama inside the penalty area and the referee awarded Taiwan Steel a spot-kick.
Fenelus blasted the ball past goalkeeper Huang Chou-lin to notch his 18th goal of the season, before turning provider in the 67th minute, hitting a cross-field pass to Astama on the right, who turned his markers and drove a fierce shot into the top-left corner.
With the clock winding down, Hang Yuan poured forward and Tsou Yu-chieh grabbed a consolation following a goalmouth scramble, but they were unable to rein in the new champions.
“We did have problems earlier this season, but our team has consolidated to have better cohesion, especially the interplay between the foreign and Taiwanese players. That was important for us to be able to claim the title,” Taiwan Steel manager Lo Chih-chong said.
Taipower held on to second place after rallying for a point against National University of Sport in Taichung.
Speedy winger Chen Chun-ting put the hosts in front when he raced into the penalty area and smashed a shot into the Taipower net.
However, Taipower mounted a typical late comeback when, from a corner in stoppage-time, forward Chen Chao-an pounced on the loose ball to slot home.
Tatung remained fourth by edging Ming Chuan University 2-1 in Taoyuan, with Ivorian striker Ange Samuel netting either side of halftime.
Midfielder Li Po-yu pulled a goal back with a glancing header in the 76th minute, but Tatung’s defense held on for the victory.
South Korean striker Joo Ik-seong netted a hat-trick to assure Taichung Futuro of third place with a 4-0 victory over the Red Lions in Taipei.
Futuro’s Yoshitaka Komori scored his first goal of the season in the 25th minute, then Joo took over.
The South Korean scored a penalty shortly after halftime, before rifling in a long-range free-kick in the 72nd minute.
He sealed the hat-trick when two Red Lions defenders failed to clear a cross and gifted the ball to Joo, who made no mistake with the finish.
Joo’s hat-trick puts him level with Tatung’s Samuel on 19 goals in the race for the Golden Boot, with Taiwan Steel’s Fenelus just one goal behind.
Jonas Vingegaard on Tuesday claimed the overall Vuelta a Espana lead while Jay Vine earned the stage 10 victory for his second triumph of the race. Two-time Tour de France winner Vingegaard overhauled Torstein Traen’s lead to head the general classification by 26 seconds from the Norwegian, with Joao Almeida third and trailing the Dane by 38 seconds. Vine put in an unmatchable performance on the final climb to finish ahead of Spanish Movistar riders Pablo Castrillo and Javier Romo. “Back in red, I’m happy with it, it’s a beautiful jersey,” Vingegaard said. “I’m happy with how the day went,
Australian Alex de Minaur reached the second week of the US Open for the third year in a row with little fanfare on Saturday and said he intended to keep winning until the tournament organizers were forced to give him better billing. Despite being the eighth seed and a quarter-finalist last year at Flushing Meadows, De Minaur’s third-round match against German Daniel Altmaier was scheduled for Court 17 — the smallest of the four stadium venues in the precinct. “It is a little bit of a headscratcher for me. I’m not gonna lie,” he told reporters after progressing 6-7 (9/7), 6-3, 6-4,
RIVALRY: Carlos Alcaraz lost his previous two matches against Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, in the Australian Open quarter-finals this year and Paris Olympics final last year Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday dazzled at the US Open to make the semi-finals before Novak Djokovic of Serbia danced his way through to book a New York showdown with the Spaniard that would mark the latest chapter in their generational rivalry. Former champion Alcaraz produced yet another entertaining display at Flushing Meadows to dismantle 20th seed Jiri Lehecka 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 at a sunbathed Arthur Ashe Stadium, securing his place in the last four without dropping a set this year. “Sometimes I play a shot that I should not play in that moment, but it’s the way I love
Spain are in danger of not getting out of EuroBasket Group C after losing 67-63 to Italy on Tuesday, but the defending champions still control their destiny. Marco Spissu put Italy in front for good at 64-63 with two free throws with 31 seconds left and made two more with 14 seconds remaining. Giampaolo Ricci converted one of two free throws with eight seconds on the clock. Spain, which in 2022 won their fourth title, are tied with Georgia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina at 2-2 each. Greece and Italy have clinched two of the group’s four spots in the round-of-16,
RSS