MANILA – The Philippine women’s football team kicked off its 2022 Asian Football Federation (AFF) Women’s Championship with a 1-0 stunner over Australia Matildas U-23 on Monday night at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila.
Sarina Bolden played the hero’s role for the Alen Stajcic-mentored national women’s football squad with her second half conversion to take the early three points in the Group A.
Following a goalless opening half, the national women’s football team drew first blood at the 60th minute after Bolden scored a header from a throw-in by teammate Eva Madarang.
Clinging to the advantage, Filipinas goalkeeper Olivia McDaniel demonstrated her prowess with a timely stop against Matildas forward Sheridan Gallagher.
“Obviously, an amazing result,” said Stajcic. “The performance of the players was first class. To beat a team that has been ranked in the top 10 for the last 10 years is just amazing.”
“Some are going to say that they (Matildas) are understrength… But you are playing international football. You have to beat who is out there and we beat a side that’s been on top of the world,” he added.
The Philippine squad will return to action on Wednesday night as they battle Singapore at seven in the evening at the same venue, while the Matildas will try to bounce back against Thailand over at the Imus City Grandstand in Cavite.
Unlike the women’s team, the Philippine Under-19 Men’s Football Team suffered a 4-1 defeat to Vietnam in the 2022 AFF U-19 Youth Championship at the GBK Madya Stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Nguyen Quoc Viet made his presence felt early with a fourth minute goal before following it up with a 48th minute goal to give Vietnam a two-goal cushion at the early part of second half.
Sandro Reyes was able to pull one back for the Philippines at the 53rd minute mark but the Vietnamese responded with conversions from Khuat Van Khang and Nguyen Van Truong to seal the win.
With the outcome, the Philippine men’s U-19 football team is yet to tally a point in Group A while Vietnam has four points on the back of one win and one draw. The national squad will next battle Myanmar this afternoon./PN
