Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Kaohsiung City: Wu Chun-ching scored twice to earn Chinese Taipei a slender advantage heading into the second leg of their 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualifying play-off after claiming a battling 2-1 win against a determined Timor Leste on Saturday.
Rufino Walter Gama had handed Timor Leste a fifth minute lead at the National Stadium only for two first-half goals from forward Wu turning the tie in Chinese Taipei’s favour.
And Chinese Taipei will look to defend their advantage in Tuesday’s second leg, which will also be played in Kaohsiung City, to earn a place in the final round of qualifiers for the 2019 tournament in the United Arab Emirates.
“It wasn’t a good game and the conditions didn’t help,” said Chinese Taipei coach Toshiaki Imai.
“They had much more control in the second half and we didn’t score enough goals. Now we only have a small advantage and I will have to think about what changes to make for Tuesday.”
Having not scored for exactly a year, Timor Leste could not have hoped for a better start as Rufino cut in from the left-hand side and hit a low drive from the edge of the penalty area into the bottom right-hand corner after just five minutes.
But their lead did not last long as barely two minutes later Wu dispatched a crisp low drive into the bottom left-hand corner after teammate Chen Po-liang had stumbled over the ball on the edge of the penalty area.
Chinese Taipei dominated possession for most of the half, spreading play well and putting some teasing crosses into the area without creating too much.
Timor Leste were happy to soak up pressure and counter-attack and that strategy almost paid off midway through the first half when Rufino received a long ball and wriggled free of his marker before crashing a drive over from the right hand side of the area.
But in the 38th minute Chinese Taipei finally made their possession pay as a long diagonal ball into the area was nodded down to Wen Chih-hao, who surged past his marker to reach the edge of the six-yard area before drilling a dangerous low ball across the face of the goal for Wu to scuff the ball home.
Chinese Taipei also started the second half stronger and created several chances, but as the half went on, Timor Leste came in to the contest more and five minutes after the hour mark Nataniel de Jesus Reis curled his shot just past the left-hand post.
Rufino then swiveled on the edge of the area before shooting just wide again as Timor Leste failed to find an equaliser.
“Congratulations to Chinese Taipei who won the game, but I feel we didn’t deserve to lose,” said Timor Leste coach Fernando Alcantara.
“We started the game well and had more control in the second half. I was surprised at the way we finished the game because we were pressing and controlled the ball a lot in the second half.
“We had a lot of young players on the pitch today and were missing three or four experienced heads. I was so proud of them all and their performance bodes well for the future.”