MANILA – The Philippine women’s football team vented its ire on Myanmar with a 3-0 domination in the 19th Asian Games women’s football on Thursday night at the Wenzhou Sports Centre Stadium in Hangzhou, China.
Sara Eggesvik scored twice in the second half, while Sarina Bolden added a penalty in the opening half as the Filipinas earned a quarterfinal seat for being one of the three best second-place teams.
“I’m glad to help the team going to the knockout stage. It could have been any one of us who scored,” Eggesvik said in an interview posted by Philippine women’s national football team social media page.
She added: “I’m glad to get on the score sheet. It’s always a team effort. I’m glad the team did really well today. I got good balls so I could just tap it in.”
Bolden kicked off the scoring for Team Philippines in the 19th minute as she connected a spot-kick penalty after being brought down by a Myanmar defender from inside the box.
Eggesvik drained the Philippine women’s football team’s second goal in the 60th minute as she connected with Bolden’s header and volleyed the ball past the defense and into the net.
A minute later, Eggesvik knocked down her second goal of the game as she slotted the ball past Myanmar’s goalkeeper to make it 3-0 advantage, securing the much-needed victory.
Filipinas team captain Hali Long said they were happy to get their revenge on Myanmar, which eliminated the Philippine squad during the recent Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia.
“It’s nice to get the win back from Myanmar. That was the goal. If that meant going through, that meant going through,” Long said in a separate interview.
However, a huge challenge awaits the Mark Toscano-mentored Filipinas in the knockout quarterfinals round this Saturday as they will face Japan, which scored a 7-0 domination over Vietnam last Thursday./PN
