On Thursday, Chinese Taipei will welcome Kyrgyzstan to the Nanzih Football Stadium in the Asian section of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.
The hosts currently sit bottom of Group E without a point to their name, while the visitors are in third position after winning one of their two matches.
Match preview
Chinese Taipei successfully negotiated the first round with minimum fuss, dispatching Timor-Leste via a 7-0 aggregate scoreline to seal their place in the second phase of qualifying.
However, their hopes of advancing to the next stage are already hanging by a thread after losing their opening two matches in the November international window.
They fell to a heavy 3-0 defeat to Oman in their opening group game, before they were narrowly beaten 1-0 in their home meeting with Malaysia following a 72nd-minute effort from Darren Lok.
As a result of those losses, Gary White's side are now languishing at the foot of the group with three points separating them from second-placed Oman ahead of back-to-back fixtures against Kyrgyzstan.
While they will be desperate to claim a win in Thursday's fixture, their hopes of claiming all three points will be tempered by the fact that they have lost nine of their last 10 home matches in World Cup qualifying.
Kyrgyzstan began their qualifying campaign with a disappointing result against Malaysia, as they gave up a 3-1 lead in the final 20 minutes to lose via a 4-3 scoreline.
They subsequently bounced back from that setback to edge out Oman in their second group game thanks to Odilzhon Abdurakhmanov's 49th-minute winner.
Despite claiming a 1-0 victory, Kyrgyzstan stayed behind Oman due to goal difference, ensuring that they have work to do if they are to force their way into the top two in the final four games.
In contrast to Thursday's visitors, the White Falcons have been busy since the last official international window, competing in friendlies against Uzbekistan, United Arab Emirates, Syria and Vietnam before turning their focus to the Asian Cup.
They were unable to make any meaningful impression at the tournament in Qatar, losing 2-0 to Thailand and Saudi Arabia before playing out a 1-1 draw with Oman to finish bottom of their group.
Despite winning just one of their last seven matches, Kyrgyzstan will believe that they have the extra quality required to win on Thursday, with the White Falcons sitting 49 places above Chinese Tapei in the FIFA World rankings.
Team News
Smith could make a couple of changes to the Chinese Tapei side that lost to Malaysia in their most recent international in November, with Chen Chao-an and Wang Chien-ming both in contention to start.
Chinese Taipei's all-time highest scorer Chen Po-liang is expected to share the responsibility of leading the line with Ange Kouame.
As for the visitors, Stefan Tarkovic is unable to call upon Kimi Merk and Abdurakhmanov, who are both ruled out of Thursday's fixture due to suspensions carried over from the Asian Cup.
Joel Kojo is expected to spearhead the Kyrgyzstan attack, having scored two goals in his last three international appearances.
Chinese Taipei possible starting lineup:
Wen-chieh; Chien-ming, Wei-chuan, Chun-ching, Shao-chi; Chao-an, Po-liang, Yen-shu, Chih-hao; Yao-hsing, Kouame
Kyrgyzstan possible starting lineup:
Tokotaev; Brauzman, Kozubaev, Kichin, Mishchenko, Zarypbekov, Kadyrzhanov, Shamurzaev; Stalbekov, Almazbekov, Kojo
We say: Chinese Taipei 0-2 Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan may have won just one of their last six international fixtures, but we still believe that they will prove too strong for Chinese Taipei, who have lost 16 of their previous 18 matches in World Cup qualifying.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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