Taiwan women's football team withdraws from Thailand, grabs 2 consecutive wins and has a strong chance to advance to the top 8

Taiwan women's football team. (Provided by Nagoya Asian Games Preparatory Committee)

[Special Correspondent Wu Mengru/Reporting from Nagoya] The Taiwanese women's football team will compete in the second match of the Asian Games group stage in Nagoya today. Thanks to the "new Taiwanese" Tanaka Asahi's long-range shot in the 77th minute of the second half, the Taiwanese women's football team defeated Thailand 1:0 in the end. They won their second consecutive victory and have a strong chance of advancing to the top eight.

The best result in the history of the Taiwanese women's football team is the bronze medal in the 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games. In recent years, the best result is the 4th place in the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games. A total of 12 teams participated this year and were divided into 3 groups for a group round-robin. The top two teams in the group and the 2 best third-place teams advanced to the top 8. The Taiwan team is in Group E this year with Vietnam, Thailand and the host Japan.

The Taiwanese women's football team, ranked 40th in the world, relied on goals from Su Yuxuan and Misato Wakabayashi in the first match of the preliminaries, leading the team to defeat their strong rival Vietnam 2:1. Today, they faced a tough fight against Thailand, which was kicked 8 goals by Japan in the frontcourt. Xu Yijun and Tanaka Maho failed to score consecutive shots in the first half. The game ended in a 0:0 tie. In the second half, there were many opportunities to score but were ineffective. It was not until the 77th minute that Tanaka Asahi broke the deadlock with a left-footed long shot from outside the penalty area. In the end, he maintained the lead all the way and won 1:0, winning 2 consecutive victories in the group stage.

Taiwan’s women’s football team had a ball possession rate of 48%. They had 16 shots in this game, 6 of which were on target. They had more offensive opportunities than Thailand’s 6 shots. In the end, they relied on Tanaka Maso’s key kick to seal the victory. If Japan also defeats Vietnam tonight, the two teams will lock in the top two in the group and advance to the top 8 in advance.