Papua New Guinea have ended their FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 Qualifying tournament with a 5-0 defeat to Chinese Taipei at North Harbour Stadium in Auckland today.

Head coach Spencer Prior made only one change to his side that lost 2-0 to Panama in their opening match, with Michaelyne Butubu coming in to the starting lineup as part of a 5-4-1 formation.

Chinese Taipei came in off an agonising shootout loss to Paraguay, with the scores level at 2-2 at the end of extra time. They dominated the early stages of this match, which was officially designated as a friendly, with a shot by Pei-Jung Li rattling the crossbar after 11 minutes. Yu-Hsuan Su then hit the post from a handy position but and then Hsiu-Chin Lee squandered a perfect chance to follow up by blasting a shot well over what was effectively an open goal. Sensing that something needed to be done, Prior subbed in Olivia Upaupa after only 17 minutes.

After 20 minutes Taipei had amassed 10 shots on goal to PNG’s zero, then had one finally go in from Yi-Yun Hsu that was disallowed after a long VAR check for offside. Yen-Ping Chen finally broke the deadlock after a great ball along the floor by Hsiu-Chin Lee, both the pass and touch for the goal were patient and it seemed to settle Taipei into their rhythm as they wasted little time doubling their lead. Hsin-Hsuan Pao tapped in a ball by Lee that rolled past several PNG defenders.

Straight off the kickoff Lee again was the provider for Taipei’s third, after Lucy Maino was dispossessed by Yu-Suan Su. Lee played the ball back for Su to curl in a classy finish to make the score 3-0 at the break.

The start of the second half saw a better defensive effort from PNG. The back five maintained an effective press on the Taipei forwards that had cut them up so efficiently at the end of the first half. That was until PNG conceded a corner and a relatively tame ball in was nonchalantly back-heeled into the goal by Chia-Ying Ting.

Lee got a well-deserved goal of her own in the 76th minute, with the combination between her and Su clicking really well.

The defeat ends Papua New Guinea’s campaign in New Zealand.

In other results, Portugal and Haiti have qualified for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 for the first time in their histories after wins over Cameroon and Chile respectively. The final spot will be determined this afternoon when Panama take on Paraguay.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA 0

CHINESE TAIPEI 5 (Yen-Ping CHEN 29’, Hsi-Hsuan PAO 34’, Yu-Suan SU 36’, Chia-Ying TING 65’, Hsiu-Sin LEE 76’)

HT: 0-3