MANILA – Philippine Malditas succumbed to a 1-3 defeat to Thailand in the 2018 AFC Women’s Asian Cup on Friday at the King Abdullah II Stadium in Amman, Jordan.
Despite the defeat, which placed Malditas on third place in the group behind China and Thailand, the Philippine squad still has a chance to qualify for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Malditas will try to clinch the fifth and last qualifying slot when it faces either Japan or South Korea on Tuesday.
Just like what she did against Malditas four years ago, Kanjana Sung-Ngoen came up with huge plays once again in the crucial match with two conversions to send Thailand to its first Women’s World Cup berth.
Kanjana opened the scoring for Thais with a penalty conversion in the 28th minute after Malditas’ co-captain Tahnai Annis was called for a hand-ball violation from inside the box.
Kanjana then doubled the advantage for the Thais in the 53rd minute with a strike from inside the box off a cross from the left side. The lead grew to 3-0 as Silawan Intamee drained a free kick.
Malditas was able to pull one back in the final minutes with Jesse Shugg draining from close range./PN
