TSG Tainan on Sunday maintained their strong form in all competitions after clinching this season’s Taiwan Football Premier League (TFPL) title, running out 4-2 winners over CPK of Macau in the AFC Cup.
Hosting the match at Kaohsiung’s Nanzih Football Stadium, TSG took an early two-goal lead, first on a comical play when CPK goalkeeper Batista punted the ball off the back of TSG’s Brazilian forward Jean Moser, then midfielder Yu Chia-huang hit a long-range shot past Batista to double the lead in the 18th minute.
Five minutes later, CPK forward Niki Torrao took a pass and fired it home to make it 2-1 heading into halftime.
Photo courtesy of the CTFA
Early in the second half, Torrao again terrorized the TSG defense by knocking in a header, tying the match at two goals apiece.
However, TSG forward Ange Samuel Kouame took charge late in the match. He took off on a long run on the left flank, all the way into the penalty area before passing to teammate Lin Wei-chieh for an easy tap-in which restored TSG’s lead in the 75th minute.
Then three minutes before fulltime, Kouame dashed off on another individual run on the right flank, rounding two defenders and unleashing a fierce shot to beat Batista and secure the 4-2 victory.
Photo courtesy of the CTFA
There was also time for the TSG players to celebrate winning their fourth consecutive TFPL title.
In their previous two matches in the first week of this month, TSG trounced Taipei Deva Dragons 4-1 and then edged Taichung Futuro 3-2 to grab six points and an unassailable lead over closest challengers Taipei Leopard Cat.
TSG manager Lo Chih-tsung said all the credit goes to the diligent efforts of the players after a tough campaign that also included playing in the AFC Cup, adding that good teamwork had achieved the desired results.
In the final round of TFPL matches on Sunday, Taipei Leopard Cat’s Japanese-Taiwanese forward Hirokimi Harada, also known as Hsu Fan-shao, scored a hat-trick in a 6-2 triumph over bottom side Taipei Deva Dragons.
The win secured second place for Taipei Leopard Cat with 41 points, second behind TSG on 49.
Elsewhere, Taipower defeated the slumping Hang Yuan 3-1, for the former to finish the season in third place, while the latter dropped to sixth spot, one point behind fifth-placed Taichung Futuro.
In Sunday’s other match all eyes were on AC Taipei striker Huang Wei-chieh, who was trying to become be the first Taiwanese player to win the Golden Boot award for top scorer since National University of Sport’s Lee Hsiang-wei in 2016.
However, AC Taipei and Taichung Futuro eked out a scoreless draw, with Huang having to settle for 13 goals this season.
He has to wait for a make-up game between TSG and Ming Chuan University on Wednesday next week, with Kouame needing to score two goals to tie with Huang.
In the second division, Taipei-based Vikings PlayOne won the title. They are to be promoted to the TFPL, with Taipei Deva Dragons dropping down to play in the second tier next season.
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