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Jonathan White

“I feel it could have gone a lot worse,” said Taiwan coach Louis Lancaster of his side’s World Cup qualifying group draw on Wednesday.
“When I think about that I’m quite positive actually. The teams are much of a muchness. You could play this team, you could play that team, but to be honest in any game of football at international level, every game is difficult, right?”
Taiwan were drawn with Jordan, Kuwait, Nepal and Australia in group B, but the 37-year-old English coach thinks the rankings don’t matter.
“Every game provides a challenge. if you play the top seed it’s backs to the wall, defending, working hard. If you play a team in pot five now you’re gonna dominate possession and that might be something that a team hasn’t dealt with before.”

In delighted to announce my first position as head coach with Chinese Taipei. A country with huge tradition and history #Jaiyo pic.twitter.com/HM7TXHflQT
— Louis Lancaster (@LouisLancs) January 19, 2019

Taiwan have already had that with Nepal, the lowest ranked team in the group.
“When we played Nepal they just sat right off and said, ‘Look, you bring the ball to us’. Our players hadn’t really had that experience before, they haven’t enjoyed the ball.

If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough #Jiayo @ctfa_football pic.twitter.com/Behsh6h7ea
— Louis Lancaster (@LouisLancs) July 17, 2019

“When players are on the ball they have two options: they can either make a decision and play that pass or make that run, or you can have indecision, where there are too many options and you become hesitant.”
Lancaster only took over as head coach in January, after serving as assistant under Gary White, but he believes there has been change in the last six months.
“I’d like to think over the past four games we have got a nice environment where everyone believes. I said to all the players, and they fully agreed, ‘It might be impossible for others and other people might be doubting us, but it is not impossible for us’. We have to believe we can push on.

Sunday night international football with #Taiwan - or Chinese Taipei - vs Solomon Islands. Chinese Taipei’s first home game with new British coach Louis Lancaster. Great to see football getting more & more popular in Taiwan. pic.twitter.com/yfpgRFUHFJ
— Andrew Pittam (@atpittam) March 24, 2019

“We’ve got a target. We want to get into that second place and then we can get into the Asian Cup automatically.
“But also the players understand that we will be judged on results like everybody else, but actually we have the opportunity to affect bigger things, such as giving people hope or inspiring the next generation with that one moment or one goal. I think that’s a bigger thing.
“I think the programme has moved forward. Our squad is younger, our older players are contributing more, sharing their wisdom and being part of mentorship.

Yesterday we made history ! #Jiayo @ctfa_football pic.twitter.com/lYwhDubYTW
— Louis Lancaster (@LouisLancs) June 12, 2019

“We’ve now got a style of play. Some teams just play a football match, where we have got a clear identity in how we want to play.
“I’ve always said to the players, ‘Look, if Manchester City were to change their tops, you could still identify them after five minutes as a Manchester City team. Whereas other teams if you change their shirts then you don’t know.’
“If we were to change our shirts, I think people would now be able to identify us. ‘That is Taiwan.’”

The players, staff and I would like to thank everyone for their support. We are preparing for another exciting high energy performance Sunday in front of our fans for the first home game of 2019 #Jaiyo pic.twitter.com/KDBK1khEtx
— Louis Lancaster (@LouisLancs) March 21, 2019

Lancaster had overseen draws with Myanmar and Nepal either side of a loss to the Solomon Islands before victory away to Hong Kong in June, where he said “it all came together” in a 2-0 win.
The speed with which his coaching has had an effect is all the more impressive when one considers that the Taiwanese league is not professional. He described it as like a jigsaw to deal with a squad playing under 16 different coaches with the different philosophies, schedules and fitness regimes that entails. “My right back might play striker for his club,” Lancaster said.
Taiwan’s World Cup qualification preparations have started already, he said. “The guy in the office is already looking at visas and the difficulty of getting them. We’re very organised here.

Hong Kong and Chinese Taipe's World Cup qualifying draw: Cannot be tougher.
Hong Kong in the most difficult group among all 8 against Iran, Iraq and Bahrain, all of them reached Round of 16 in the Asian Cup. Chinese Taipei was drawn with possibly the strongest Pot 4 team Kuwait. pic.twitter.com/4JosVrqipv
— Titan Sports Plus (@titan_plus) July 17, 2019

“People see Chen Ho-wei scoring goals on the pitch they see Chen Po-liang making fantastic passes, they see the team pressing but no one sees what goes on underneath. The hotels, the flights, the accommodation, the liaison officers, the training, the analysis. There’s so much more.
“We’re constantly praising the staff. They do a great job and when I said the programme has moved forward it’s not just the philosophy and the players, it’s all the staff.”
Does he think his side can finish in the top two?

#WCQ #AsianQualifiers Group B:
Australia
Jordan
Chinese Taipei
Kuwait
Nepal@theafcdotcom | @afcasiancup
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) 17 July 2019

“I think we have to [think that]. Imagine being in front of a group of players and saying, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll just take it one game at a time.’ I think you’ve got to give big dreams, otherwise what’s the point?”
Lancaster will hope Taiwan can start with at least a point when they welcome Jordan to Taipei to kick off their qualifying campaign on September 5.


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Football

Australia, Jordan, Kuwait and Nepal stand in their way of progressing from group B
Boss targets top two spots as he aims to also qualify for 2023 AFC Asian Cup in China


Australia, Jordan, Kuwait and Nepal stand in their way of progressing from group B


Asian Football Confederation (AFC)

World Cup qualifiers: Taiwan’s English boss Louis Lancaster ‘positive’ ahead of path to Qatar 2022

Australia, Jordan, Kuwait and Nepal stand in their way of progressing from group B Boss targets top two spots as he aims to also qualify for 2023 AFC Asian Cup in China

Australia, Jordan, Kuwait and Nepal stand in their way of progressing from group B

Boss targets top two spots as he aims to also qualify for 2023 AFC Asian Cup in China