Taiwan loses by ten goals

Despite having a player with experience in the Dutch top competition and solid defense, Taiwan is still no match for The Netherlands when things get serious, losing by ten goals in the game for a spot in the final, 27-17.

The Dutch are pressed by Taiwan, but get their usual amount of field goals where Taiwain scores three of its four goals from penalties and a free pass. The first Taiwanese substitution is already after seventeen minutes, just before Kuipers can afford to miss a penalty for The Netherlands at a 6-3 score. It is 8-4 before Taiwan's star Wu gets his first goal. The Netherlands secures a five goal lead at half time, 11-6.

The second half keeps The Netherlands in the lead with the same gap for the first ten minutes. A Dutch time-out, penalty and free pass brings the difference to eight goals, 18-10. Kuipers misses his second penalty, but quickly makes up with a field goal. When Schep scores 20-11 with a penalty, the victory is clear Two goals by Snel widens the gap to ten goals, 22-12. Both teams add five goals to their total to come to a 27-17 finish and having The Netherlands placing themselves for the finals, while Taiwan will compete for bronze.

Looking at the higher number of penalties in the second half, eight against three, the tension in the second half is clearly higher. It partly accounts for the higher number of goals in the second half also. Young player Mick Snel is top scorer for The Netherlands in this game with six goals, followed by Schep with five. For Taiwan, Wu is top scorer with four, of which two are field goals. Wu is not able to make a difference at this level, question being if that is due to his own qualities, those of his teammates in his zone or Dutch defense, be it on him personally or on his feed players. Four other Taiwanese players score three.