A disastrous ten minutes of football condemned Taiwan to their second consecutive loss in the 2027 AFC Cup qualifiers. On paper, Sri Lanka– ranked 200th in the FIFA world rankings– should have been a winnable game. But in reality, the Blue Wings were limited against a team that had some quality players but nothing this Taiwanese roster had not seen previously.

In their first game under interim coach, Chen Sing-an, Taiwan set up in a 4-5-1 formation. Taiwan’s two most capped players, Wu Chun-ching and Chen Po-liang, were restored to central midfield along with Kang Tae-won whilst full back Chris Tiao was moved inside to play center back.

Right from the beginning, Sri Lanka came charging forward. Given their tactics, Taiwan had clearly set themselves up to nullify that assertiveness and for a while, they were able to frustrate the home side.

But cracks began to appear once the game settled down. Both Chen and Wu looked tidy on the ball but the decision to play a pair of thirty-six year olds in the middle of the field proved unwise. With the young legs of the Sri Lankan midfield taking over the game, Taiwan were sitting deeper and deeper to compensate for this, which left Yu Yao-hsing totally isolated up-front.

With Taiwan trapped in their own half, Sri Lanka were starting to fashion chances. Sam Durrant should have opened the scoring but sent his shot just wide. Chen forced an excellent save from captain Sujan Perera in a rare Taiwan attack but for the most part, Sri Lanka were in complete control.

The goal was always coming, and even after Taiwan got to halftime unscathed, Sri Lanka never lost their momentum. Within three minutes of the restart, a brilliant piece of old-school wing play from Dillon De Silva saw him jink past Chao Ming-hsiu and then surge down the left-hand sideline before crossing into the box.

De Silva’s pass was placed perfectly into the middle of the Taiwan penalty box but it still took a moment of magic from Adhavan Rajamohan to seal the deal. With his back to goal, Rajamohan’s first touch took the ball out the air and he then swiveled onto his other foot before sending a shot flying past Huang Chiu-lin.

Taiwan looked shocked at conceding so soon after halftime and smelling blood, Sri Lanka pushed forward in search of a second goal– and they would not have to wait long. Within four minutes, Wu Chun-ching was caught in possession right outside his own penalty box and De Silva gleefully picked up the loose ball before firing it into the back of the net.

Incredibly, Taiwan conceded their third goal in ten minutes via another defensive error. Although the build-up play was good, the right-side cross from Anujan Rajendram should have been dealt with comfortably. But instead, Huang Tzu-ming’s miscued clearance bobbled up in the box, allowing Ahmed Waseem Razeek to smash a first-time volley past the stranded Huang.

The game as a contest was essentially over with thirty minutes to play. Taiwan would eventually score when substitute Huang Wei-chieh poked home Emilio Estevez’s freekick but that was as good as it would get for the visitors.

Taiwan had possession but for the most part, they could not figure out how to get through the Sri Lankan lines. At one point, the TV cameras panned to the Taiwanese bench and the entire team looked shell-shocked at what was happening on the field.

To their credit, Taiwan didn’t completely fold. Driven on by the youthful enthusiasms of Huang Wei-chieh, the visitors made Sri Lanka work for their win as the game drifted into injury time. Having got his debut goal for the national team, Huang nearly scored again when he headed Chen’s inch-perfect cross into the side netting.

Two minutes later, Huang forced Perera into a full-stretch save after the twenty-year old took an ambitious shot from distance. Incredibly, he then almost scored from the subsequent corner but his shot looped over the bar.

Huang was showing some fight but it was a remarkable cameo that ultimately came to little. After six long minutes of extra time, the referee’s whistle blew and exhausted players from both sides fell to the floor.

But as everyone got to their feet, the Sri Lankans looked overjoyed whereas the Taiwanese visibly dejected. The Blue Wings will have the summer to prepare for two consecutive games with strong Thailand roster in October but if radical changes are not made, things could get very ugly indeed.

Photo Credit: Daily News LK