TALK about David going up against Goliath.
That will be the scenario when the Philippines faces defending champion Vietnam today for a finals berth in the 12th Asean Football Federation Women’s Championship at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
Getting a much-needed two-day break, the Filipinas hope to be recharged and renewed for their 8 p.m. semifinal clash with the Vietnamese, who topped Group B with a 4-0 shutout of Myanmar last Wednesday.
Group A topnotcher Thailand, which tripped the host squad 1-0 last Tuesday, battles Myanmar in the other semifinal match at 4 p.m., with the winners disputing the championship on Sunday.
The charges of coach Alen Stajcic are out to shrug off their close loss to the Thais and focus on the vaunted Vietnamese, who have hit their stride by completing a five-game sweep of their group without conceding a goal.
The Filipinas will try to buck the odds and history against the reigning AFF Women’s champion, whom they have not beaten in their previous seven meetings in the regional women’s football showcase.
The score line has become closer with each succeeding match, with Vietnam scoring a 2-1 decision the last time they met in the semifinals of the 2018 edition in Chonburi, Thailand.
Last May, the wards of coach Mai Duc Chung also won 2-1 over the Filipinas when they collided in the group stage of the Vietnam Southeast Asian Games on the way to retaining the crown on their home pitch.
Stajcic said he expects their foes, who didn’t get to see action until July 7 or three days after the competition began, to be fit and prepared considering they had one game less in what he noted was a weaker Group B.
“One less game in these conditions is a massive, massive advantage,” he said.
He is banking on his World Cup-bound squad to draw inspiration from the team’s stirring 1-0 upset of Australia at the start of the competition, plus the hometown support.
Stacjic is expected to field in his big guns, led by strikers Sarina Bolden, Quinley Quezada, goalkeeper Olivia McDaniel, defender Eva Madarang and inspirational skipper Tahnai Annis.
