MANILA – Philippine Malditas capped its remarkable 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup stint with a 2-0 defeat to South Korea in the semifinals on Thursday at the Shri Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune, India.
The stinging defeat ended the national women’s football team’s historic campaign where they notched a seat in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup to be held in Australia and New Zealand.
South Korea showed their experience against the Malditas early on with early attempts on the goal before connecting one at the fourth minute courtesy of a header by Cho So Hyun.
The Malditas had opportunities to score courtesy of Katrina Guillou and Tahnao Annis but hit the crossbar. Salina Bolden nearly equalized the score at the 32nd minute but was deflected by the defense.
The South Koreans doubled the advantage at 34th minute with Son Hwa Yeon easily blowing by the defense to connect from close range against the defense of Philippine Malditas keeper Olivia McDaniel.
The Malditas suffered a huge blow at the onset of the second half. Chandler McDaniel went down with an injury just minutes after subbing in for veteran Quinley Quezada.
The South Koreans maintained its aggressiveness in the second half with multiple attempts at the goal but Olivia McDaniel deflected all of the shot attempts to maintain the 2-0 score.
The Malditas, however, still could not find their touches in the second half due to the superb defense of South Korea en route to a defeat and a joint third place finish in the tournament.
“I am proud of the effort of my players. They fought right to the death,” Malditas head coach Alen Stajcic said in a post-match interview.
The national women’s football team will next compete in three tournaments, namely 2021 Southeast Asian Games, 2022 Asian Games and AFF Women’s Championship, as a buildup for their maiden World Cup stint./PN
