Pundits and soccer fans have accused Taiwan’s CTFA soccer governing body of negligence and mismanagement, after Taichung Futuro, Taiwan Steel Group (TSG) and AC Taipei began this year’s Taiwan Football Premier League season with big wins on Sunday.
Local soccer enthusiasts are complaining of a lack of match information, inadequate publicity and poor-quality broadcasting, and have said that there were no advertisements from sponsors at the matches.
Supporters and pundits say the CTFA is not providing updates on the top men’s and women’s leagues, with the CTFA’s Web sites carrying last year’s information, with no match listings for this season.
“The CTFA’s leadership and officials are missing in action... We have no updates on new team players, no listings of upcoming games for the season. This is no way to run the nation’s top soccer league,” a sports journalist surnamed Shih said yesterday.
In previous years, the CTFA would organize a news conference to present the clubs and star players, provide booklets and online information on the men’s and women’s team rosters and a match schedule for the upcoming season, he said.
However, none of that has happened this year, said Shih, accusing the CTFA’s leadership of dereliction of duty.
He said that the governing body might be trimming is operating costs to deal with debt.
On Sunday, defending champions TSG played at home in Tainan against Hang Yuan. Neither side could score until late in the first half when TSG’s Marc Fenelus met a long throw-in with a glancing header, catching the Hang Yuan defenders and goalkeeper Lin Chun-hua sleeping.
Ten minutes from time, TSG’s Ange Samuel charged forward, sending a cross to Fenelus, who volleyed in his second goal and secured his team a 2-0 victory.
In Kaohsiung, Taichung Futuro broke through in the second half to beat Leopard Cat 3-0, with Benchy Estama scoring a brace and Lee Mao slotting the ball home in between.
The Taipei Dragons’ Lin Chun-kai opened their account against Taipower FC at the half-hour mark, but Taipower’s Kao Wei-chieh replied with a goal of his own five minutes later.
An hour into the game, Taipower were given a corner, resulting in a goalmouth scramble, and Lin Cheng-yi easily tapped in the winning goal to beat the newly promoted Dragons 2-1.
In Sunday’s evening match, Ming Chuan University (MCU) routed AC Taipei 3-0 at home in Taoyuan.
Huang Sheng-chieh was the first to score while surrounded by three defenders.
Huang Wei-chieh scored MCU’s second goal, and after a turnover 10 minutes from time, he burst forward, selling a dummy to score his second goal of the night.
HOMETOWN ZERO: Fans relished the fall of former Brewer-turned-Cubs manager Craig Counsell, as Milwaukee braces to face the Dodgers, who in 2018 denied them a pennant Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy has referred to his team as the “Average Joes,” a nod to their small-market status and lack of big names, but after they beat rivals the Chicago Cubs 3-1 in the decisive fifth game of their National League Division Series (NLDS) on Saturday night, Murphy decided it was time for an upgrade. “You can call them the average Joes, but I say they’re the above-average Joes,” he said. The Brewers relied on contributions from just about every player to get past the Cubs. Andrew Vaughn hit a tiebreaking homer in the fourth inning, and William Contreras and Brice
Mexico’s teenage playmaker Gilberto Mora has lit up the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile as he basks in the limelight afforded by the absences of Barcelona and Real Madrid stars Lamine Yamal and Franco Mastantuono. “I don’t know if I’m the biggest star, and I’m not really interested in that. I think you can always give more,” 16-year-old Mora said before Mexico’s 4-1 win against host nation Chile in the round-of-16 on Tuesday, in which he provided the assist for the opening goal. Next on Mora’s schedule is a quarter-final clash against Argentina this morning Taiwan time, but after
‘IT’S BASEBALL’: In just the second error to end a post-season series in the MLB, the Phillies reliever fumbled a comebacker and threw to home, despite the signal Eyes red, Orion Kerkering on Thursday received words of support from his Philadelphia Phillies teammates. “Just keep your head up. It’s an honest mistake. Just, it’s baseball,” he remembered hearing. “You’ll be good for a long time to come,” they added. “It’s not my fault, then. We had opportunities to score,” was the message he kept getting. Kerkering made a wild throw past home plate instead of tossing to first after mishandling Andy Pages’ bases-loaded comebacker with two outs in the 11th inning. Pinch-runner Kim Hye-seong scored and the Phillies were eliminated with a 2-1 loss that gave the Los Angeles Dodgers a
It might not have been Xander Schauffele’s most prestigious tournament victory, but it should be the American’s most memorable. Schauffele yesterday shot a seven-under 64 to win the Baycurrent Classic in Japan — a country where his Taiwan-born mother grew up and where he has many connections. Schauffele, who shot 19-under 265 over four rounds at the Yokohama Country Club, finished one shot ahead of American Max Greyserman, who was also the runner-up at the event a year earlier as he chases his first PGA Tour title. When she was four years old, Schauffele’s mother, Chen Ping-yi, moved to Japan, where her Taiwanese
RSS