May 17, 2020
This week’s match from the Taiwan Premier League with an English
commentary featured Taiwan Steel vs Hang Yuen FC.
Taiwan Steel are based in Tainan in the south of the island, which is
the oldest city in Taiwan and located just over 300 km from the capital Taipei.
They are also sometimes referred to by their pre-sponsorship name of Tainan
City, and were the pre-season favourites for the title with both the Taiwan Times
and the South China Morning Post, having apparently invested heavily in
strengthening their squad. New signings included the league’s top scorer from
last season and Taiwan Player of the Year, the Turks and Caicos International
Marc Fenelus, and Taiwan International defender Wei Chaun Chen, both from
champions Tatung. Their squad also includes several other Taiwan internationals
including goal-keeper Wen Chieh Pan ( 32 Caps ) and captain Wu Chun Ching ( 50
caps ), and their foreigners are Russian defender Alim Zumakulov, Brazilian forward Alves Vitor, midfielder
Mati Godoy from Chile and Haitian forward Benchy Estama.
However, Taiwan Steel have made a disappointing start to the season with
two losses from five games to sit in third place four points behind leaders
Taipower, to whom they lost 0-1. The other loss was also 0-1, to Taichung
Futuro, with their three wins coming against the sides currently sitting in the
bottom three places of the eight team division. Fenelus has scored three times
but trails Tatung’s Kouame who has scored eight times in the scoring charts.
Hang Yuen are the surprise of the season so far, being unbeaten in their
first five matches to sit in second place. They too have beaten the bottom
three but managed draws with Taichung Futuro and Tatung. They are based in New
Taipei and have an affiliation with Fu Jen Catholic University, which is where
they play home games, and from where the majority of their Taiwanese players have
come from. Hang Yuen have only one Taiwan international, 20 year Yen Shu Wu who is
their top scorer so far with 3 goals. However, they also have a few foreign
players, including Judelin Aveska who has represented Haiti 46 times, William
Lopez from El Salvador, Atsushi Shimono from Japan, Brazilian Luan Anderson,
Nigerian Louie Emmanuel and Michael O’Gorman from the USA.
Perhaps surprisingly Bet365 initially made Hang Yuen 11/10 favourites to
win, with Taiwan Steel at 8/5 but by kick-off time the odds had changed to have
Taiwan Steel evens favourites and Hang Yuen 8/5. The draw was 10/3.
The match was played at the small Tainan Football Field ground which has
a capacity of around 1,000. There are just two small temporary sets of benches
on one side of the pitch and there is a natural grass pitch, although a bit worn in
some places. It looks to have a certain amount of charm but in England it would probably be a Step 6 level ground ! Taiwan Steel also have the option to play at the 15,000 capacity Tainan Municipal Stadium but with no spectactors being allowed there is a degree of sense playing at the smaller ground.
According to our commentators, one of which was the very
knowledgeable Jason Pan from the Taipei Times, the weather was hot, and the
typhoon that caused heavy rain the day before had now passed. We were also
informed that Tainan is the birthplace of football in Taiwan, having been
introduced by the British in 1914.
Taiwan Steel wore a yellow and black strip similar to Borussia Dortmund
and Hang Yuen wore sky blue and black similar to Sydney FC. When the teams for
the match were announced, Taiwan Steel had left top scorer Fenelus on the bench
and Hang Yuen were also without their top scorer, Yen Shu Wu.
Despite being played behind closed doors the game kicked off with lots
of crowd noise which sounded good. Presumably the idea was taken from the
K-League ?
Taiwan Steel started brightly and lone striker Benchy Estama forced a
smart diving save by the near post from Hang Yuen’s keeper after four minutes.
The game soon fell into the pattern that would remain for most of the
match. Taiwan Steel had most of the possession but created little against a
well organised Hang Yuen defence with the centre back pairing of Emmanuel and
Avenska and full backs William Lopez and Chia Ming Lue looking very solid, O’Gorman
operating as the midfield defensive anchor and the side looking quick on the
counter attack, particularly Chen Wen Liu ( No 66 ).
O’Gorman looked a bit like Adam Le Fondre, especially in the blue and black
kit and Godoy’s hair caught the eye, although I wasn’t sure if it had been dyed
silver or whether he is going grey ! He also seemed to be the Taiwan Steel dead
ball specialist but without any end product. Like the Women’s matches yesterday, a water break was taken after 30 and
75 minutes, which apparently is permitted when the temperatures are over 32
degrees.
Hang Yuen finished the half strongly though, with Yung Fu Liu ( No 14 ) firing a
free-kick just wide, and O’Gorman sent a spectacular acrobatic volley just
over.
The second half started dramatically when Godey was dispossessed just
over half way, and Liu’s through ball put Chin Wen Liu ( No 66 ) clear on goal
and he should have scored. However, his shot was straight at Wen Chieh Pan in the
Taiwan Steel goal
but fortunately for Hang Yuen, Ching Hsuan Chen ( No 9 ) was
on hand to tap in before the sliding defender could block.
For a short time Taiwan Steel fall apart as Hang Yuen had good
chances blocked and saved. Taiwan Steel then started to ring the changes, Godey was
hooked after 52 minutes, and finally on 60 minutes Fenelus came into the action
and made an immediate impact by spraying a couple of long passes and
running at the Hang Yuen defence. However, Taiwan Steel made little impression
on the resolute Hang Yuen back four and tempers started to get frayed and a
couple of flare-up occurred, although it was mostly handbags. Russian defender Zumakulov
looks mean even if he isn’t a particularly good footballer !
As Taiwan Steel’s frustrations grew they started committing needless
fouls, which helped Hang Yuen slow the game down. As the commentators observed,
Taiwan Steel were not running off the ball nor were there any passing
combinations. The preference was to attempt fancy flicks rather than build
pressure. However, one great chance was fashioned but the Taiwan Steel
substitute screwed his shot wide when free at the edge of the six-yard box.
The other point of note in the final ten minutes was two of Hang Yuen’s
substitutes having to go off injured and so themselves being substituted.
Fortunately for them, more than three substitutes are permitted under the
temporary Covid rules.
With this win and Taipower’s surprise defeat to NTUS, Hang Yuen move to
the top of the table. They are well organised and with their solid back four
they look like they will be hard to beat. Taiwan Steel drop to a disappointing
fifth place and look like they need to build some teamwork and understanding to
harness the individual talents in their squad.
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