Li Mao yesterday starred for Taiwan in their opening match of the CTFA17 International Tournament at the Taipei Municipal Stadium as the hosts defeated the Philippines 3-0.
Taiwan scored a hat-trick of headers, with Li grabbing a brace, as they convincingly saw off probably the strongest of the other three teams in the tournament.
However, there were some nervous moments for the home crowd in the fourth minute when Angel Guirado put the ball in the net for the visitors, only for his effort to be ruled out after the assistant referee flagged that the ball crossed the byline before being pulled back.
Photo courtesy of the Chinese Taipei Football Association
Li’s breakthrough came in the 38th minute, when his header from a free-kick gave Philippine goalkeeper Nicholas O’Donnell no chance.
He had a chance to double the lead four minutes later, but his shot was handily saved by an outrushing O’Donnell.
In the 53rd minute, the Philippines had the ball in the net again, but the effort was once more ruled out, this time for offside.
Li then doubled Taiwan’s lead in the 63rd minute when he headed in Yu Chia-huang’s cross from the right.
The visitors were reduced to 10 men four minutes later when Guirado was shown a red card for deliberately elbowing Chen Yi-wei.
Chen Ting-yang wrapped up the victory in the 81st minute when he got in front of his marker to head home substitute Will Donkin’s corner from the left.
Yu had a chance to add a fourth in stoppage-time, but he failed to convert Donkin’s cross from the edge of the six-yard box.
In the earlier match, Laos defeated nine-man East Timor 2-1.
Laos took the lead in the third minute when Nonmany Chiu converted a penalty, before Natphasouk Soukchinda added a second in the 41st minute.
Cruz Henrique scored a consolation for East Timor in the 84th minute after his side was reduced to nine men following red cards for both Trindade Avelino and Oliveira Filipe in the second half.
Taiwan will next face East Timor at 7pm today at the Taipei Municipal Stadium.
‘AWFUL PERFORMANCE’: Golden State were always chasing the game after failing to threaten from long range, making just eight of 33 three-point attempts Aaron Gordon on Monday scored 38 points as the Denver Nuggets shrugged off the absence of Nikola Jokic to halt the Golden State Warriors’ seven-game winning streak with a 114-105 victory over their Western Conference rivals. A dazzling display from Gordon inspired what was ultimately a comfortable win for Denver, who were missing regular starters Jokic and Jamal Murray from their lineup. The absentees were barely felt by Denver, who startled the Warriors early at San Francisco’s Chase Center and led for most of the game. The Warriors threatened to stage a late rally after slashing the Nuggets’ fourth-quarter lead from 15 points
The US’ bid for a fourth consecutive CONCACAF Nations League title came to a stunning end as they fell 1-0 to Panama after a stoppage-time goal from Cecilio Waterman on Thursday in Inglewood, California. Despite dominating possession, the US struggled to break down a resilient Panama side for long periods. Panama spent the bulk of the match defending, but pounced on a giveaway by the US before substitute forward Waterman sent a shot from the right side of the area to the bottom left corner late in stoppage time. Up next for Panama in tomorrow’s final is to be Mexico, who beat
DOMINATION: McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris took the first two spots as Mercedes’ George Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen followed them Australian Oscar Piastri yesterday roared back from season-opening disappointment in his home race by winning the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix from pole position in a McLaren one-two with championship-leading teammate Lando Norris. George Russell finished third for Mercedes, ahead of Red Bull’s reigning champion Max Verstappen with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Saturday’s sprint winner Lewis Hamilton fifth and sixth respectively. Piastri’s win denied Norris a third victory in a row, including last year’s Abu Dhabi season-ender, but left champions McLaren unbeaten in two races so far this year. “Mega job guys. The car was very, very lovely,” Piastri said
TO FINAL FOUR: France had 22 chances and scored two goals, while Croatia could not manage a single shot on target in 120 minutes. Les Bleus won 5-4 on penalties France on Sunday overturned a two-goal deficit to qualify for the UEFA Nations League Final Four by eliminating Croatia 5-4 on penalties after a 2-0 victory in their quarter-final second leg at the Stade de France. Dayot Upamecano scored the winning spot kick in a nail-biting shootout in which France keeper Mike Maignan made two saves, sending Les Bleus into the semi-finals against Spain. Michael Olise opened the scoring and Ousmane Dembele doubled their lead 10 minutes from time to send the tie into extra time after their 2-0 loss in Split, Croatia, on Thursday. France had a total of
RSS