Taiwan defeats could be turned into a positive

Taiwan starting line up vs Nepal. Photo: CTFA
Taiwan has come a long way in a short space of time, especially in 'football-terms'. As they headed into the World Cup qualifying matches full of confidence and expecting/hoping they'd do well and surprise people.

Two home defeats feel like a massive setback

Taiwan has just played two World Cup qualifying games at home, both of them played in as the Taipei Municipal stadium. Each of them ending in defeat, to leave an expectant fan base feeling glum, especially against Nepal.

However, these results can be seen positively when the questions are asked of the squad, most of whom play in the semi-pro Taiwanese Premier League.

Do you want to continue progressing as you have? Then if so, the performance put in against Nepal isn't going to get you there. Do you want to keep improving as you have been, where you stand a chance of playing bigger sides, and maybe getting a move to a pro club in China or Hong Kong?

Then you need to show the performances you have in the last two years, in every game you play and keep a level of consistency going.

You cannot win every match you play but with Taiwan progressing so fast, maybe a boot up the behind from time to time isn't a bad thing. That is as long as the squad don't dwell on these results and over analyse their mistakes. 

The growth is still positive 

There's always a great deal to be positive about in Taiwanese football. Yes, Taiwan has just lost two World Cup matches. Though despite how dreadful the Nepal game was, there are still signs the CTFA (Chinese Taipei Football Association) are doing very well these days.

For instance, getting people into the stadium for kick-off at the Jordan game was a disaster, and by the time I got into the ground, it seemed there were more people stuck outside than in.

Usually, the exact same thing would happen again, against Nepal. Though this time the CTFA made announcements over the stadium's tannoy system that fans could enter at both sides of the ground for this game.

That is what's great about the CTFA right now they are listening. It may take a long time, but the perception of the CTFA with Taiwan's fans will change.

Another point, seeing someone in work get excited about the football was remarkable. Watching a colleague bolt out the door faster than me, is a great sign football interest is growing.

Even then with Taiwan losing both qualifying matches, things are going well behind the scenes. With support from the CTFA improving all the time it looks like they are listening to fans. These are all great things that we never thought would happen ever.

This means everyone needs to stick with the team, yes results are not what were expected, but the Fifa ranking has raised fans expectations.

The truth is Taiwan would always find it difficult going into the group, even as a third seed. The hope was the positive momentum would carry on from the Asian Cup qualifiers and friendly games.

Everyone needs to remember a lot of this team aren't full-time footballers and have shown excellent passion to push Taiwan up to their highest ever World Ranking (125th I believe). This is a beautiful achievement and even if these players and this team don't pick up any points get out and cheer them on, because the team and the CTFA are currently doing wonders for football in the country.

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