Filipinas crawl back to stun Indonesia
The Philippine Women’s National Football Team pose for a group photo after beating Indonesia, 4-1, in the AFF Women’s Championships. | Photo from the PFF Website
The Philippine Women’s National Football Team (PWNFT) stunned Indonesia,4-1, in come-from-behind fashion in the 2022 AFF Women’s Championships last Sunday evening, July 10, 2022, at the Rizal Stadium.
The Filipinas overcame a first-half scare when the Indonesians scored the first goal by retaliating with four goals, to advance to the semifinals of this major regional football tournament.
Sarina Bolden, the Filipinas’ ever reliable striker, led the team with a hat trick, while team captain Tahnai Annis scored the team’s other goal.
With the win, the Filipinas extended their lead in Group A as they now have 12 points and a clean slate of four wins.
Thailand is at second place with 10 points off three wins and one draw. Australia is at third with seven points with a 2-1-1 (win-draw-loss) slate while Malaysia is at fourth with two points. Indonesia is at the bottom with one point.
In Group B, Myanmar and Vietnam have six points each with the former at the top while the latter at second based on their goal difference. Laos is at third with four points followed by Cambodia with one point, and Timor-Leste at the bottm with zero points.
The Indonesians initially led the match after Carla Bio Pattinasarany scored a goal in the 37th minute after the Filipinas’ goalkeeper Inna Palacios had a costly error while securing the ball on her end.
The Filipinas went to the locker room at the half facing 0-1 deficit.
However, their team captain Tahnai Annis scored the equalizer in the 48th minute.
Bolden scored her first goal at the 57th minute, striking the ball from a go-ahead pass from Sara Eggesvik that gave them the lead, 2-1.
Bolden then scored the last two goals for the Filipinas in the 65th and 67th minutes.
“I am happy with the resiliency of players on the pitch (after we fell behind), they are ones who picked themselves up and the coach can only do so much. We don’t have a magic wand but we just had to stick to our principles,” said the Filipinas’ head coach Alen Stajcic after the match.
“This resiliency shows the growth of this team.”
Although the Filipinas have already secured their semifinals berth in the tournament, they have to face a tougher foe in Thailand tomorrow, Tuesday, July 12 at 7 PM at the same venue.
/bmjo
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