Hualien 5-0 Kaohsiung Yangxin ( att : 0 ) - Taiwan Mulan Premier League

May 16, 2020

The top division of Taiwan’s Women’s football league involves just 6 teams, who play each other three times before play-offs determine the champion side. Taichung Blue Whale were the champions in 2019.

The Taiwan Women’s national side are ranked 40 in the FIFA rankings, above countries such as Serbia, Hungary and Northern Ireland. In the Olympic Qualifiers played in February, Taiwan suffered heavy losses to China and Australia, sides both ranked in the top 15 in the world, although they did beat Thailand, who are ranked above Taiwan at number 39.

All matches in the Mulan Premier League are played in the same stadium over a weekend, one after the other, with each side taking it in turn each week to host the matches. Matches are currently being played behind closed doors. Today all three games were played at the National Artificial Football Stadium in Taoyuan City and like all matches so far this season were shown live on the Chinese Taipei Football Association’s ( CTFA ) YouTube channel. For the first time though, this week there was a match with an English commentary, but it was the later Taoyuan International vs Taichung Blue Whale fixture, not this one !

Hualien were joint top after 4 matches having won three and drawn one. The draw was with Taipei Bear, which are the only points either side have dropped, and Hualien came back from 0-2 to grab a draw in injury time.

Hualien is on the east coast of Taiwan, approximately 150 km from Taipei and the team is sponsored by the Taiwan Land Development Corporation ( TLDC ).

Hualien’s opponents today were Kaohsiung Yangxin, who are also referred to as Kaohsiung Sunny Bank, and Sunny Bank are the shirt sponsors. Kaohsiung is in the south of Taiwan, just over 350 km from Taipei. Kaohsiung have lost all four of their matches so far scoring only twice, and went into this match as 8/1 underdogs. Hualien were odds on favourites at 1/6.

The National Artificial Football Stadium has a running track around the pitch and one small stand. There are a couple of temporary bench stands on the far side, and some lovely views of trees and the countryside behind one goal.

It is difficult to get English details of each side’s squad and playing numbers in this league, the TV graphics were in Chinese script and the various football websites currently only list the goal scorers. Hopefully this will improve once the teams are covered by the English commentaries.

The general observation on watching the play is that the players are petite and slender and the focus is on neat, short passing on the floor, although Hualien frequently looked to play through balls down the channels for their two wide players to get behind a square back four.

The game was not very physical, and there was no dissent or arguing so it looked a pretty easy match to referee. Today’s ref though seemed reluctant to make too many decisions with one late, clumsy foul in the first half just producing a wagging finger whereas a yellow card would normally have been expected, and the injured player was quickly carried off for treatment so play could resume. Towards the end of the match, two fouls in quick sucession on the same Hualien player ( No 14 Xian Gyi Hueng ) would have been penalties in many other games but play was waved on here. There is no VAR in the Taiwan Mulan Football League ! 

Hualien thought they had taken the lead in the 9^th minute when right winger Zhou Li Ping ( No 11 ) got behind the defence and crossed to Wu Shi Ping ( No 13 ) unmarked eight yards out but her shot was saved, and although the rebound was forced home, it was disallowed for a foul on the Kaohsiung keeper.

After 23 minutes Zhou Li Ping’s low 25 yard effort produced a good diving save to push the ball for a corner, and Hualien continued to press but the chances went either high and wide or straight at the Kaohsiung keeper. Zhou Li Ping was also regularly being flagged offside.

A two minute water break was taken after 30 minutes ( and also after 75 minutes ) so the temperatures were presumably hot, all that didn’t seem to impact the pace of the play. However, the match afterwards in the same stadium was delayed by heavy rain !

The opening goal eventually arrived in the 39^th minute when again Zhou Li Ping crossed to Wu Shi Ping for an easy header in the six-yard box for her fourth goal of the season. 

It was nearly 2-0 in first half injury time when a deflected header from a corner looked to have wrong footed the Kaohsiung keeper, but she was able to correct her movement in time to dive on the ball.

Kaohsiung rarely threatened in the first half, with just one-half chance when their No 17 was put through wide on the right but chose to shoot high and very wide when a colleague was free at the far post. Their number 20, Din Sia Ying, caught the eye though, making dangerous runs from a deep lying midfield position, but without any end product. The Kaohsiung centre forward, No 12, was tall and well built but slow, and was substituted after 65 minutes have made next to no impact.  Hualien’s No 5 looked very comfortable against her, and also impressed with her distribution out from the back, and general overall calm play.

Hualien soon turned their dominance into goals, firstly after 50 minutes when a chip over the defence enabled Tan Wen Lin ( No 9 )  to place a left footed shot from the edge of the penalty area past the advancing keeper. Their third goal highlighted a general problem in the Taiwan women’s league in that the height of the goal-keepers can make it difficult for some of them to save high shots, and here Kai Ling Lin’s ( No 21 ) chip come shot from just inside the angle of the penalty area sailed over the keeper when really one would expect it to be saved.

Koahsiung’s best chance of the half came on 68 minutes when Din Sia Yang’s goal bound shot from the edge of the edge of the area was deflected over the bar by a Hualien defender ( No 6 ). Any chance of a come back was ended almost immediately after when Wu Shi Ping nutmegged a defender by the bye-line and sent a lovely curling cross to the far post for Tan Wen Lin to tap-in for 4-0, her fifth goal of the season and her last contribution of the match as she was immediately substituted !

The final 20 minutes were scrappy as players tired and lost some of their positional shape, although there was time for one more goal when substitute Xian Gyi Hueng ( No 14 ) scored with her first touch of the game from just outside the penalty area to complete a 5-0 drubbing.

With this result, and Taipei Bears also winning, Hualien stay joint top but now have the better goal difference. They have two lively wide players, two dangerous forwards and look sold at the back, although their defence was rarely troubled today. With a clear lack of threat up front, Kaohsiung look obvious favourites to finish bottom.