The Philippine Malditas pose for a group photo after beating Hong Kong in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup QUalifiers on Friday. | PFF Photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Philippine Malditas or the Philippine Women’s National Football Team will make their second appearance in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Asian Cup after dominating Group F in the qualifiers.
The Malditas capped off their unbeaten campaign with an exclamation point, beating Hong Kong, 2-1, on Friday at the JAR Stadium in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
The Malditas already vowed to win their last remaining match in Group F despite only needing a draw to qualify in the 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup in India.
They finished Group F with six points after they also beat Nepal, 2-1, on Sept 18. Each victory was worth three points.
They joined host country India along with Japan, Australia, China, and South Korea in qualifying for next year’s AFC Women’s Asian Cup. Six slots are left to be filled to complete the teams to vie next year.
During the match, midfielder Tahnai Annis delivered another impressive performance by scoring the Malditas’ first goal at the 17th minute via a header from Rocelle Mendaño’s timely pass.
However, Sin Chung Yee of Hong Kong scored an equalizer at the 61st minute with a precision kick outside the penalty box that caught the Malditas’ goalkeeper Inna Palacios offguard.
The Malditas then became more aggressive with their offense attacking Hong Kong from all sides until the 87th minute when forward Chandler McDaniel scored the winning goal by breaking away from their opponent’s defense.
Aside from Tahnis, Mendaño, McDaniel, and Palacios, the Malditas is manned by Olivia Davis McDaniel, Isabelle Mapanao, Ryley Bugay, Sofia Harrison, Chelo Hodges, Hali Long, Tara Shelton, Patricia Tomanon, Sara Castañeda, Anicka Castañeda, Malea Cesar, Charisa Lemoran, Jessa Miclat, Camille Rodriguez, Alyssa Ube, Camille Wilson, Alisha Del Ocampo, and Arianna Lepage.
The team’s head coach is Marlon Maro.
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