Connect with us

GSPN

MATAO RUNS OUT OF TIME

[sixcol_five_last]

PRESS RELEASE- Chinese Taipei’s best defense was resorting to delay tactics to break up the Matao’s fast-paced attacking plays and emerge as victors with a 2-0 showing in Day 2 of the Philippines Football Peace Cup at Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila, Philippines Thursday.

Unable to keep up with the Matao’s Jonahan Romero, Chinese Taipei’s Chen Po Hao goes in for a slide tackle. (courtesy photo)

“We dominated large parts of the game, but we just couldn’t put our chances in,” said defender Christian Schweizer after the game. “Sloppy mistakes cost us the game.”

From the opening whistle, the Matao rattled Chinese Taipei’s defensive backs and goalkeeper, Pan Wen Chieh with quick games of possession in and around the midfield. Within the first few minutes, Schweizer shocked Chinese Taipei’s defenders with his speed down the left wing and sent a cross into the box to get Pan sweating early. From there, it was a barrage of through passes, left and right wing crosses and corner kicks into the box in just the first 10 minutes.

As Chinese Taipei grew increasingly physical on plays, Lo Chi An was able to find the lucky strike in the 11th minute from the right side to the opposite post. In the final minute of the half, a defensive mistake cost Guam another goal for the eventual final score.

The Matao’s Reyn Johnson splits Chinese Taipei’s Yang Chao Hsun and Liu Chi Chao to send a cross into the penalty box. (courtesy photo)

“After watching the Philippines and Guam game, we saw that Guam had a very strong team,” said Chinese Taipei coach Chiang Mu Tsai through an interpreter. “It was very fortunate for us to have been able to win the game.”

With the two-goal advantage, Chinese Taipei relied heavily on defense and began its strategy of delaying the game to break the tempo set by the Matao early on. Pan continued to increase his time sending goal kicks, prompting a few Guam players to count out loud, and eventually began sending them out of bounds. Others asserted injuries, but were back in playing mode after the team’s doctor jogged onto the field of play. In one instance, Chinese Taipei’s Yang Chao Hsun purposely kicked a dead ball away near the sideline when Guam was awarded a throw-in, prompting a yellow card.

The Matao’s Marcus Lopez sends in a strong shot toward the goal before Chinese Taipei’s Tsai Hsien Tang is able to block it. (courtesy photo)

“Some of it was just over the top and a little bit ridiculous to be honest, but that’s experience kicking in to try and run out a game when you don’t need to score another goal,” said Matao head coach Gary White when asked about Chinese Taipei’s delay tactics.

“What the team needs to learn from this game is to put away chances and just kill off games. The team (today) didn’t know how to handle having total domination over its opponent and coming back from getting scored on in a counterattack. We just really need to stay focused, deal with any set backs and stay with the game plan. We are going to get it right before December,” White added, referring to the semifinal round of the East Asian Football Championships, where Guam will face Chinese Taipei a second time, Hong Kong, North Korea and Australia.

In the current tournament, Guam will next face a familiar adversary in Macau at 4 p.m. Saturday Manila time. The Matao defeated Macau 3-0 in July during the East Asian Football Championship preliminary competition.

In the day’s late game, the Azkals blanked Macau 5-0 behind a hat trick from Denis Wolf and a goal each from Carlos Martinez de Murga and Patrick Alcala Reichelt. The Azkals next play Chinese Taipei in the final match of the tournament at 7:30 p.m. Saturday Manila time.

[/sixcol_five_last][ubm_premium_banner_rotation banners=44, 16, 14 interval=9 width=120 height=600 orderby=rand]

[fbshare url=” http://www.gspnlive.com/?p= 16527″ type=”button”][fblike url=” http://www.gspnlive.com/?p= 16527″ style=”standard” showfaces=”false” width=”450″ verb=”like” font=”arial”]

Ad

GPS Sports Calendar

May

June 2025

July
SU
MO
TU
WE
TH
FR
SA
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Events for May

31st

No Events
Events for June

1st

No Events
Events for June

2nd

No Events
Events for June

3rd

No Events
Events for June

4th

No Events
Events for June

5th

No Events
Events for June

7th

8
9
10
11
12
13
14
Events for June

8th

Events for June

8th

No Events
Events for June

10th

Events for June

11th

Events for June

12th

Events for June

13th

Events for June

14th

15
16
17
18
19
20
21
Events for June

15th

Events for June

16th

Events for June

16th

No Events
Events for June

17th

No Events
Events for June

18th

No Events
Events for June

19th

No Events
Events for June

21st

22
23
24
25
26
27
28
Events for June

22nd

Events for June

22nd

No Events
Events for June

23rd

No Events
Events for June

24th

No Events
Events for June

25th

No Events
Events for June

26th

No Events
Events for June

28th

29
30
1
2
3
4
5
Events for June

29th

Events for June

30th

COMING SOON …

Asia Pacific/Middle East Regional Tournament (Senior Division) June 10-16

Guam National Bodybuilding Championship June 21

FD Alumni Basketball Tournament June 27-July 18

Pacific Mini Games June 29-July 9

 

QUICK HITS

The JFK Islanders won the first ever Memorial Weekend High School Basketball Tournament.

The All-Tournament selection were Zhion Macapinlac JFK, Darwin Ecijan JFK, Matthew Quinata Southern, and Malcom Fernandez Tiyan.

JFK’s Collin Rillamas was named tournament MVP.

————————————————–
The Prospects captured the Guam PONY Colt Spring Baseball League (14-16) championship Saturday with a masterful 2-0 win over the Smokies.
Pitchers Gavin Alcantara (5 innings) and Javier Taimanglo (2 innings) combined to throw a no-hitter.
Taimanglo and Juan Carlo Presnell drove in the two runs for the Prospects, and Skyler Paulino had two hits.

More in GSPN