SEVEN months of intensive preparations continued to bear abundant fruit for the Filipinas, who displayed their deep bench in a 7-0 whitewash of Singapore at the Rizal Memorial Stadium last Wednesday night.
Led by team captain Tahnai Annis, the hosts booked their second straight win and found themselves proudly on top of Group A of the 12th Asean Football Federation Women’s Championship with six points.
Annis fueled the successful drive as she scored one goal, was instrumental in an own-goal lapse by Singapore counterpart Ernie Sulastri Sontaril, and set up two others in a virtuoso all-around performance in only 58 minutes on the pitch.
But it was definitely not a one-woman show, stressed coach Alen Stajcic, who allowed a couple of role players to share the spotlight, among them veteran goalkeeper Inna Palacios, who made her 50th match appearance for the national team in place of Olivia McDaniel.
Palacio hardly worked out a sweat as the Filipinas went full throttle with their offense behind the masterful orchestration of midfielder Jessica Miclat, who created opportunities for Sarina Bolden, debuting Kaya Hawkinson, Sara Eggesvik and substitute Anicka Castaneda.
“Maximizing the bench shows the discipline within the team, shows the unity, shows the alignment we have in the group. Regardless of who comes on, we will maximize them well.
It is important that everyone contributes. We have a big squad,” Stajcic noted.
“It was a good win for the Philippines and I believe they are the favorites (to reach the semifinals) in the group,” said Singapore coach Stephen Ng after his players absorbed a severe beating.
