THE Philippines dropped a 1-2 decision to Indonesia late Monday night and exited the Mitsubishi Electric Cup in front of a sparse hometown crowd at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
Seeking to top Group A, the visitors pressed from the start, resulting in two first-half goals by Dendy Sulistiyawan and Marselino Ferdinan in the 21st and 43rd minutes, respectively.
Taking a long pass from skipper Sebastian Schrock, playing in his last international game for the Azkals, Jens Sebastian Rasmussen headed in the lone Azkals goal in the 83rd minute as the Philippines finished the group stage with one win and three losses.
The charges of Spanish coach Joseph Ferre were actually knocked out of contention as early as last Dec. 29 when the Indons held defending champion Thailand to a 1-all draw at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta.
The War Elephants, who clipped Cambodia 3-1 at the Thammasat Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, topped the group with a plus-11 goal difference to the Indons’ plus-9 after the two sides finished with the 10 points each with three wins and one draw.
The Azkals, whose lone win was a 5-1 rout of Brunei last Dec. 23 also at the Rizal Stadium, wound up fourth in the five-team group above the winless Brunei booters for their worst finish in Southeast Asia’s premier men’s football competition.
They failed to advance to the semis for the second straight time in the event after missing the bus in the 2020 edition that was held in a bubble in Singapore.
The match was also likely the last at the national team helm for Ferre, who was signed to a two-month contract by the Philippine Football Federation and had barely a month in whipping the team into a competitive side.
