Taiwan did everything right but it wasn’t quite good enough after a gutsy, determined and heroic stand against one of the better teams in international women’s football. Two goals in extra time from China mean that Taiwan’s AFC Women’s Finals are over. On paper this should be a painful loss, but in reality there are positives to take for the long-term journey.

Taiwan, much like they did against Japan in the opening game of their group, set out to frustrate and slow down their much vaunted opposition. China are quite literally the second biggest team in the tournament and boasted impressive squad depth; it would have been naïve to go toe-to-toe so instead Taiwan played it cautiously, and almost worked.

For much of the initial ninety minutes, Taiwan were barricaded into their own half, with China enjoyed 70% of the ball posession. Shot after shot after shot ran down on keeper Cheng Ssu-yu, who had been promoted to the starting line-up after injury to Wang Yu-ting in the previous game against India.

Taiwan‘s keeper was the busiest player on the field but for the most part, the veteran was up to the task despite starting her first international game for several years. By the end of the game, China had taken thirty shots, forcing Cheng to save ten of them– including an excellent diving save to deny Shao Ziqin a headed goal midway through the second half.

It was not until the final twenty minutes of extra time when China finally broke through. By then they had already had hit the bar and watched another ‘goal’ be ruled off after a VAR review for offside. This time Shao was able to beat Cheng with a swerving shot from just inside the box that the keeper had no chance of stopping.

With the pressure reaching breaking point, a rash challenge on Shao gave China a chance to make it two-nil but Cheng denied Huo Yuexin from the penalty spot to give her side hope.

China still had time to finish the game off, and they did via a cruel twist of fate when Chen Ying-hui, who had had an excellent game, unintentionally deflected Wang Yanwen’s cross past her own keeper.

That being said, Taiwan are not yet on the plane home. They still have a ‘best of the rest’ qualification bracket for one of the two unclaimed automatic spots in next year‘s World Cup. It will be another difficult game against North Korea but if they play as resolute as they did yesterday, they will have a genuine chance.

Photo Credit: ESPN