MANILA – The Philippine women’s football team drew strength from Sarina Bolden to score a come-from-behind 4-1 win over Indonesia in the 2022 AFF Women’s Championship on Sunday night at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
Bolden scored a hat trick, while Tahani Annis added another one as the national women’s booters got a much-needed morale boosting win ahead of their encounter with Thailand tonight.
However, regardless of the outcome of tonight’s game, the Philippine team is already assured of a semifinals slot as they remained undefeated in Group A with 4-0 for 12 points.
The national women’s football squad struggled to find a decent goal attempt in the early moments of the opening half due to the disciplined tight defense employed by the Indonesians.
The Indonesians suddenly drew first blood in the 37th minute, as striker Carlo Bio Pattinasarany scored the maiden goal of the match off a passing error by Filipinas goalkeeper Inna Palacios.
In unfamiliar territory entering the second half, the Filipinas increased their aggression until they were able to tie the score at 1-1 with Annis scoring from the right flank from a long cross by Sofia Harrison at the 48th minute.
Bolden then made her presence felt for the national women’s football team as she converted a close range shot off an assist from substitute Sara Eggesvik at the 57th minute mark.
The 26-year-old forward widened Team Philippines’ lead to 3-1 as she connected a cross from Jaclyn Sawicki at the 63rd minute before she completed her hat trick three minutes later.
“It’s really special. It’s not every day that you get a hat trick at home with your national team. I really take pride in it but I could not do it alone,” said Bolden, who now has a total of five goals in the competition.
Team Philippines head coach Alen Stajcic credited Indonesia’s determination on the pitch for the Filipinas’ slow start in the first half, but praised his players’ bounce-back performance in the last 45 minutes of the critical game.
“In the second half, we showed that resilience was a really good quality…Probably one of the most important qualities you can have in a team is to be able to bounce back, remain composed and calm, and stick to your principles,” Stajcic said./PN
