THE Philippines took the early lead but couldn’t hold on to it long enough against powerhouse South Korea and absorbed a 1-5 beating at the hands of the Tigresses last Monday night in their Group E clash in the 19th Hangzhou Asian Games women’s football tourney.
In front of a lean crowd at the 18,000-seat Wenzhou Sports Center Stadium, the Filipinas drew first blood in the eighth minute through striker Sarina Bolden on an assist from Meryll Serrano, stroking the ball past off-position South Korean goalie Kim Jung Mi.
That goal galvanized the South Koreans, who fought back with ferocity and quickly equalized four minutes later through Chun Garam in a prelude to the onslaught that followed as they surgically picked their rivals’ defenses apart.
Forward Son Hwa-Yeon was largely responsible for the huge win, scoring a hat trick in the 44th, 50th and 70th minutes, using her right knee on the third and last goal that sealed the deal.
Front row partner and veteran striker Ji So-yun converted a penalty kick in the 52nd minute as the Tigresses booked their second straight win to remain on top of the group and a likely spot in the next round since they face winless Hong Kong tomorrow.
Among those in the gallery were Philippine Sports Commission chairman Richard Bachmann and Philippine Football Federation general secretary Atty. Ed Gastanes, who both must have winced every time the opposition scored a goal.
“I think if we sustained the (defensive) pressure as we had in the first half for 80 to 90 minutes, the results would have been different. But we won’t take that away from them, they are a top 20 team (in the world),” said coach Mark Torcaso in a TV interview after the match.
“But we have to be patient. It’s a new group, it’s a new staff, we’re still influencing ourselves,” he added.
The Filipinas dropped into a two-way tie for second with Myanmar, which defeated Hong Kong 1-0 in the other group match, with both squads sporting 1-1 win-loss records and identical minus 2 goal differences.
This left the charges of Torcaso in a precarious position since they are now ranked No. 4 among those vying for the best second-place squads across the five brackets, with the top three advancing to the next round.
Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Thailand, the runners-up in Groups A, D and B, respectively, are currently holding the 1-2-3 spots with one playing day left in the group stage.
The Filipinas must win and win big over Myanmar tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. and hope the three other teams mentioned earlier lose to avoid an early exit in their Asian Games debut.
The two squads have split their last two matches, with the Burmese beating the Filipinas 1-0 in the group stage of the Cambodia Southeast Games last July and the latter defeating the former 2-1 in the battle for the bronze medal in the 2022 edition in Vietnam.
