The Philippine national team stuns Vietnam to secure finals matchup against Thailand on Sunday.
The Philippine women's national football team advances to the final stage of the Asean Football Federation (AFF) Women’s Championship by upsetting Vietnam, the defending champions, with a 4-0 victory on Friday night at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium.
The Filipinas surely did not disappoint the 3,233 fans that have come to watch the match at the stadium as they continue their historic campaign.
With the win, they are set to play Thailand, the only team who defeated the national team during the eliminations, after beating Myanmar in their semifinal match.
Hali Long opened the scoring for the team with her first goal of the tournament after getting past Tran Thi Kim Thanh, Vietnam’s goalkeeper, to nail a powerful header at the 31’ mark.
Sarina Bolden delivered powerful plays with two clean headers at the 62’ and 71’ marks of the match with Tahani Annis and Quinley Quezada providing the Bolden brace.
Annis also joined the scoring as she converted a penalty kick at the 51st minute to double the lead for the Philippines.
Philippine head coach Alen Stajcic, again shuffled his starting lineup, benching center-back Dominique Randle after her critical error in the previous match.
Jessika Cowart was then inserted to the lineup to defend alongside Long, while Olivia McDaniel and Eva Madarang kept their places as the starting goalkeeper and right-back, respectively.
Left-back Sofia Harrison returned to the starting lineup after coming in as a substitute in their previous match.
Regardless of the result of Sunday's final, the Filipinas will make their first ever podium appearance in the AFF in the club’s history.
"It's a special moment, and a historic moment -- to beat Vietnam, and to make the first Finals appearance," said coach Alen Stajcic.
"We've been in two semifinals this year -- in the Asian Cup, and in the SEA Games, [we won] a bronze medal. Tonight, we showed that we matured and evolved, and beat a really top-class team," he added.
Tags: #football, #AFF, #women’steam, #sports