Taipei Times
Date: Nov 07, 2016
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter
North Korea showed why they are the favorites when they scored either side of halftime and shut out Taiwan’s men’s soccer team 2-0 in Hong Kong yesterday in the opening match of the second round of qualifiers for next year’s East Asian Championship.
It was Taiwan’s Japanese head coach Kazuo Kuroda’s first time in charge of an international as his team faced a stern test against North Korea.
Taiwan’s hopes of getting off to a winning start were extinguished by opponents with a proud pedigree of having qualified for the 1966 as well as the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals.
Kuroda opted for a 4-2-3-1 formation with three attacking midfielders behind lone striker Wu Ching-ching, against a team coached by Norway’s Joern Andersen, who formerly coached Red Bull Salzburg and Karlsruher SC. [FULL STORY]