The Taiwan men’s soccer team will try to put the recent sacking of their manager and several teammates behind them when they take on Indonesia in the first of their AFC Asian Cup qualification playoff matches at 8pm in Thailand today.
Controversy put Taiwan in crisis mode ahead of the important encounter in Buriram City, in Thailand’s northeast Isan region, with rumors that some players are discontented with the sudden banishment of their manager and teammates.
The CTFA governing body called up three Taipower players — forward Ko Yu-ting, midfielder Lin Chang-lun and goalkeeper Chiu Yu-hung — atfter over the weekend announcing that it was suspending manager Henry Von, and dismissing Chen Hao-wei, Yu Chia-huang, Pai Shao-yu and Tuan Hsuan.
Photo courtesy of the Chinese Taipei Football Association
The trio reached Buriram earlier this week, in time to complete COVID-19 quarantine procedures, the CTFA said.
The CTFA last week reviewed an investigation into reports that players had disregarded COVID-19 prevention regulations by going out to drink twice on one day in August and once last month.
The news is a big blow to the national squad, which needs stability and good leadership after losing all eight matches, scoring no competition points and placing last in Group B of the AFC Asia Zone qualifiers for next year’s FIFA World Cup.
Von only took on the job in February last year, replacing Louis Lancaster, who was dismissed in December 2019.
Von’s assistant, Yeh Hsien-chung, is to serve as interim manager for the team’s two playoff matches against Indonesia at the Buriram Stadium.
The second game is sceduled for Monday at 9pm.
Von did not control the players under his charge and did not handle disciplinary problems properly, which might have led to further drinking incidents while the team trained in Kaohsiung over the past two months, the CTFA said.
However, Von hit back, saying that some of the allegations were not true and he was denied the opportunity to give an explanation.
He had asked for a more thorough internal probe, so that he and the players could present evidence and give their side of story, he said.
Von slammed the CTFA, saying that its actions would disrupt the players and staff ahead of important international matches.
It would negatively impact player confidence and team morale, he said.
Despite his dismissal, Von has asked fans to support to Taiwan.
He also asked the players not to quit, saying that anything can happen in a game, and Taiwanese soccer must move forward.
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