THE conditions were far from ideal in the Filipinas’ first home game in the country for over two years last Monday.
Rains prevented local fans from coming in droves as expected but the spirit of the Filipinas was far from dampened as they scored a stirring 1-0 upset win over the crack Australian Under-23 squad at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
Veteran striker Sarina Bolden typified the team’s fiery attitude, soaring over several Aussie defenders for a looping header off Eva Madarang’s long throw-in for the winning marker in the 60th minute for the winning goal.
Also sharing the limelight was goalkeeper Olivia McDaniel, who kept the vaunted Australian attack at bay with her timely saves.
The Filipinas shared the early lead in Group A of the 12th Asean Football Federation Women’s Championship with Thailand, which romped to a 4-0 victory over Indonesia in the other group match at the Binan Stadium in Laguna.
“Obviously, it was an amazing result against a team that has been ranked in the top 10 in the world for the last 10 years. The performance of the players was first class,” Australian mentor Alen Stajcic said in the post-match press conference.
Bolden, who now plays for Japanese pro club Chifure AS Elfen Saitama, was enthusiastic of the upset victory, saying: “This win is pretty special and shows how far the team has come.
The last time I was here (in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games) was heart-breaking but now we started the tournament winning so it means so much.
“We just have to develop better because we have the World Cup coming up. We need to go as far as we can in this AFF tournament and continue to better ourselves.”
The Filipinas gun for their second straight win today when they take on Singapore at 7 p.m. in another tripleheader in the event organized by the Philippine Football Federation.
The Aussies try to regain lost ground when they face Thailand in a pivotal clash at 7 p.m. at the Imus Stadium in Cavite.
Over at the Binan Stadium in Laguna, Malaysia guns for its first victory at the expense of Indonesia at 4 p.m. after settling for a scoreless draw with Singapore last Monday.
Ranked at an all-time high of No. 53 in the FIFA women’s world rankings, the charges of Stajcic are facing a Singaporean side ranked 79 rungs lower at No. 132, and which they have beaten 3-0 and 4-0, respectively, in the previous two editions of the competition.
