FOR over 45 minutes, Indonesia seemed poised to pull off a huge upset over the heavily-favored Philippine women’s squad by taking a surprising 1-0 lead Sunday night at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium.
But explosive striker Sarina Bolden would have none of it, completing a sensational hat trick to power the Filipinas to a pulsating 4-1come-from-behind win over the upset-conscious Indonesians and into the semifinals of the 12th Asean Football Federation Women’s Championship.
With the Filipinas down 0-1 at the break, Bolden led a second-half blitz that boosted the hosts to their fourth straight win in Group A and the first ticket in the crossover semis with one match left.
Getting a tight pass from Sara Eggesvik, Bolden scored the go-ahead goal in the 55th minute, the ball slipping through the legs of Indonesian goalkeeper Prihatini.
Six minutes later, the explosive forward showed her versatility, left-footing the ball in an open box from a Sofia Harrison assist before capping her big night by following up her own try in the 66th off the hands of the diving Prihatini, much to the delight of the boisterous hometown crowd.
Sharing the spotlight was skipper Tahnai Annis, who settled things down with the equalizer in the 46th minute, a 30-foot roller from the right wing that lit the fire for the hosts.
The fiery second half performance more than offset the blunder of veteran goalkeeper Inna Palacios, who bungled the back pass of defender Chantelle Maniti, enabling Carlo Pattinasarany to pounce on the mistake and score the first goal in the 37th minute, giving the visitors the early lead.
The vital win was a great morale booster for the Filipinas, who will take on Thailand on Tuesday in a showdown for
Group A top spot.
The Thais continued to hound the Philippines in second place after scoring a 4-0 shutout of Malaysia for its third consecutive victory at the Binan Stadium in Laguna.
The Philippines maintained its firm grip of first place with 12 points; Thailand lurked in second with 10 points; while Australia had seven points after securing its second straight win in four games by beating Singapore 4-1 earlier at the Rizal Stadium.
“I am happy with the resiliency of the players on the pitch (after we fell behind). They were the ones who picked themselves up and the coach can only do so much. We don’t have a magic wand; we just had to stick to our principles,” Filipinas coach Alen Stajcic said of his charges’ remarkable recovery in the second half. “The players deserve full credit. This resiliency shows the growth of this team.”
Bolden, who scored her second hat trick for the PH side, noted her achievement was “at home with the national team so it is pretty special. I take great pride in it. But I couldn’t do it alone… because of the nice assists that were given to me.”
After posting their sixth straight win going back to their friendly matches from their European training camp, Stajcic also reiterated his appeal to hometown fans for their match against Thailand on Tuesday “to rock the stadium because that is an extra factor there.
“The bigger the atmosphere the more chances we have of winning this tournament and that’s the whole point of having hometown advantage and help us get over the line,” he said.
