Filipinas show title-retention mettle with rout of timor
The Philippine women’s football team gave a stern reminder of its capability of retaining the Asean Women’s Championship with an emphatic 7-0 romp of Timor-Leste in Phu Tho, Vietnam.
But team captain Hali Long, despite the lopsided score, is not thinking that the Filipinas will just breeze their way into repeating the run they had three years ago on home soil.
“We don’t take any team lightly, and we don’t know which way this group’s gonna go,” Long said after being one of the scorers in the Group B match held at Viet Tri Stadium.
Long was mentioning the other game in the group that saw Myanmar edging out the Australia U-23 team, 2-1. Given that outcome, the Filipinas see themselves having to go through two difficult games in their semifinals quest.
Up next for the Philippines is Australia on Sunday, before facing 2022 third placer Myanmar on Wednesday.
“Looking forward to [checking] that [Myanmar-Australia] game and seeing what kind of results we can pull out in the next two games,” said Long.
The Filipinas banked on two goals each from Quinley Quezada and Dionesa Tolentin, who, prior to the contest, had not seen the back of the net since joining the national team side last year.
Quezada, meanwhile, made it 25 goals into her account, which is second on the Philippine mark behind Sarina Bolden’s 31. Third on the list is Long, following her 22nd in the ninth minute off a header.
Another key reason for the win was the breakthrough goals of debutants Aaliyah Schinaman, who came up with the opener just more than a minute into the match, and Adelaide Wyrzynski with her 75th-minute score as a sub.
“Overall, I think it was pretty good,” Long said. “We definitely could have gotten more goals, so there’s just more growing and learning, but really proud of the group that we put out today.”
