Review : Taiwan 2021 Mulan Premier League – Round 6

November 27, 2021

Taoyuan International 0-1 Taipei Bravo

Kaohsiung Sunny Bank 3-0 Hang Yuen

Hualien 1-0 Taichung Blue Whale

After a break of nearly 7 months due to season being suspended due to increased Covid cases in Taiwan, the 2021 Mulan Premier League resumed last week. Only 3 rounds of fixtures had been completed when the league came to a halt early in May, but with conditions now deemed suitable to continue, the CTFA decided to reduce the season to just 10 league matches, and postpone the Magnolia Cup until the spring.  The revised fixture schedule requires the sides to also play in mid-week to enable 7 matches to be played between November 20^th and the end of the season on December 11^th.

The Taiwan national side did see some action in October, travelling to Bahrain to play in a qualifying tournament for the 2022 Asian Cup, and qualified for the finals in India in January thanks to victories over Laos ( 4-0 ) and hosts Bahrain ( 2-0 ).

Taoyuan had lost all three of the games before break without scoring a goal. In an effort to strengthen their side they had signed Costa Ricans Daniely Arguedas and Britany Lewis as well as Sarah Bangura from Sierra Leone. However, the new players hadn’t had much impact in terms of improving results as Taoyuan lost both matches on the resumption, being thrashed 0-5 by Kaohsiung and 0-4 by Taichung Blue Whale.

Taipei Bravo went into the encounter without a win since the opening day of the season, when they beat Taoyuan 5-0, but only an equalizer two minutes from time prevented them recording a victory over Kaohsiung in mid-week.

Taipei Bravo look the lead in the 7^th minute when Wang ( No 6 ) got behind the defensive line and crossed left footed across the face of the goal for national forward Hsing Hui Lin ( No 14 ) to have a simple finish inside the 6 yard area. However, despite having nearly all of the possession, Taipei Bravo were unable to add to their lead. Ding ( No 7 ) twice came close in the first half, but after Wang’s shot from the edge of the area crashed back against a post, Bravo were reduced to hopeful long range efforts. Taoyuan never troubled the Bravo keeper but may see a one goal defeat as a reason to be optimistic.

Kaohsiung Sunny Bank have had a much better year than last season, when they won only one match, and drew with Taipei Bravo last time out. Hang Yuen showed their defensive qualities by holding champions Hualien to a 0-0 draw in mid-week, so a close match was expected.

There was little to chose between the two sides in the first half, but Kaohsiung went into the interval with a 1-0 lead thanks to a header from Lee Hsih Chen ( No 10 ) from Yang Yahan’s ( No 21 ) in-swinging corner, the ex-Taichung Blue Whale star evading her marker to power home from the edge of the 6 yard box in the 19^th minute.

Hang Yuen pressed for an equalizer in the second half but Kaohsiung held firm and took a firm grip on the match 10 minutes from time when Yang Yahan laid the ball back from close to the by-line for Lee Hsih Chen to sweep home between the keeper and her near post for her second goal of the game. Yang Yahan added a third two minutes later, sliding in at the far post to steer a cross from the left into the empty net.

Leaders Taichung Blue Whale visited champions Hualien in the tie of the round. The two sides had played a cagey 0-0 draw on the opening day of the season, since which Taichung had won their next four matches, whilst Hualien unexpectedly dropped points in a home 0-0 draw with Hang Yuen to drop to second place. Taichung though had been weakened by the departure of top scorer Michelle Pao, who had reportedly left Taiwan for a job as an engineer in the USA.

In a match of very few chances, the decisive moment came in the 27^th minute when an attempted clearance hit Hualien striker Wu Shi Ping ( No 13 ) and fell kindly to the unmarked Chen Ya Wei ( No 7 ) to smash home from 8 yards off the inside of the post. Hualien move above Taichung to the top of the table, and with just 4 matches remaining sit in pole position to retain their title.