Two Yanks in Taiwan (er, Chinese Taipei)

Discussion in 'Yanks Abroad' started by Elninho, Feb 16, 2016.

  1. Elninho

    Elninho Member+

    Sacramento Republic FC
    United States
    Oct 30, 2000
    Sacramento, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Go ahead and move this to Academy if it fits there; I'm not sure what the system is now, so I'm putting it in the main YA forum for now. I figure this is at least worth mentioning since the players are in a national first division somewhere!


    A pair of American midfielders named Brett Gooden and Michael O'Gorman are on the roster of Royal Blues FC, a newly promoted club in Taiwan's first division. Taiwan's top flight is a mixture of semipro and amateur clubs; Royal Blues FC is an amateur club consisting primarily of expats from various countries (Wikipedia lists no Taiwanese players at all, the club website lists two), and earlier this season became the first expat club to win a match in Taiwan's top division. (Taipei City Dragons reached the top division in 2013 but went straight back down without winning a single match.)

    Gooden has a LinkedIn page that indicates that he ran track for the University of Nebraska; a Mike O'Gorman is listed on another Taiwanese club's website (apparently his former club) as being born in 1984 and he may be the Mike O'Gorman who played D3 college ball for Rhodes College from 2003 through 2005.

    O'Gorman, wearing the #28 shirt, was involved in the buildup to the goal that won Royal Blues promotion at the end of last season:


    He is also seen playing in central midfield in a news clip about the newly promoted expat club:


    There are also highlights on YouTube of a closed-door scrimmage between Royal Blues FC and the Chinese Taipei national team in November (Chinese Taipei won 3-0), but it appears neither American played in the game.

    There's one more interesting US connection in the Taiwanese league: Marc Fenelus, a Turks & Caicos international drafted by the New England Revolution from Cal State Fullerton in 2015 (!), has somehow ended up at Tatung FC, one of Taiwan's two semipro clubs.
     
  2. Elninho

    Elninho Member+

    Sacramento Republic FC
    United States
    Oct 30, 2000
    Sacramento, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    #2 Elninho, Mar 28, 2017
    Last edited: Mar 28, 2017
    Royal Blues FC now has three American players. Michael O'Gorman is still with the club, and was named captain for the 2017 season. The other two Americans on the 2017 roster are:

    Luke Deming -- goalkeeper who played at Saginaw Valley State (2007-10)
    Alan Murray -- left back who played at Cascade College (2008) and Warner Pacific College (2009-11)

    Four matches into the 2017 season, O'Gorman has started every match, while neither of the other Americans has appeared. O'Gorman was named club captain for 2017; he also appears to also be the first-choice penalty taker as he has scored all of the club's PK goals since the middle of 2016.

    Even though Taiwan's top flight has no foreigner restrictions (probably because 6 of the 8 clubs do not pay players at all), the club appears to have started moving away from being an expat club in its second season in the top division -- it's added several Taiwanese players as well as a player from Hong Kong's current U20 NT, and appears to have started an academy.
     
    Winoman repped this.
  3. handballer

    handballer Member

    Pittsburgh Riverhounds, SF City
    United States
    Mar 21, 2017
    Thanks for the updates. What an interesting corner of the world to play soccer in.
     
  4. Elninho

    Elninho Member+

    Sacramento Republic FC
    United States
    Oct 30, 2000
    Sacramento, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Update:

    Royal Blues were "relegated" at the end of the 2018 season -- but it appears there is no longer a single second-tier league in Taiwan from 2017 onward. Instead, the two "relegated" clubs play in a 4-team round robin qualifying tournament with two other clubs from the lower leagues during the preseason, with the top two playing in the top flight again. So it's really a promotion/relegation playoff, with the unusual thing being that the playoff doesn't take place until the following preseason.

    As of the end of the 2018 season, Michael O'Gorman was still captain, and Luke Deming was still on the roster.

    I recently found O'Gorman listed as a coach for something called Master Football Academy in Taipei. His bio there indicates he is the same Mike O'Gorman who played for Rhodes College. It also says he played for the Atlanta Silverbacks, but I can't find any evidence of anyone named O'Gorman having played for the Silverbacks. (Google did, however, turn up Mike O'Gorman having coached youth soccer in Atlanta at one point.)
     
    UniversalAdvice repped this.
  5. UniversalAdvice

    Apr 18, 2018
    Fenelus is listed by Wikipedia as now having scored 104 goals in 64 matches. So that's pretty cool.
     
  6. Elninho

    Elninho Member+

    Sacramento Republic FC
    United States
    Oct 30, 2000
    Sacramento, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Royal Blues FC were in fact relegated. Both O'Gorman and Deming are still playing in Taiwan.

    O'Gorman is at Hang Yuen FC, where he plays alongside two Haitian former MLS players, Jean Alexandre and Peterson Joseph. I believe Alexandre is also a US citizen. (Since this thread started, Hang Yuen has become Taiwan's third semi-pro club.) Hang Yuen is currently in fourth place in the Taiwan Football Premier League, one point out of third place, with two games left to play.

    Deming is now with FC Taipei Red Lions along with about ten other former Royal Blues FC players. They are in last place, 8 points from safety, so will be in the relegation playoffs.

    By the way, O'Gorman is almost certainly the Mike O'Gorman who played for Rhodes College. His new club lists him as Michael Casey O'Gorman, and a Michael Casey O'Gorman graduated from Rhodes College in 2006.
     
    UniversalAdvice repped this.

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