MANILA – The national women’s football team scored a massive 6-0 domination over Indonesia in the Asian Football Confederation Women’s Asian Cup India 2022 late Thursday night at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune, India.
Team captain Tahnai Annis connected two goals while Katrina Guillou, Sarina Bolden, Jessica Miclat and Malea Cesar added a conversion each to spearhead the scoring for the Malditas.
The victory was the second in three games by the Malditas in the Group B to clinch a quarterfinals seat. A victory in the final eight against Chinese-Taipei will hand the country a semis seat and a slot in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The Philippine team showed their desire to clinch the crucial win. They immediately applied heavy pressure and were awarded a penalty as early as the fourth minute when Vivi Oktavia Riski was fouled but Guillou sent the spotkick against the left upright.
Guillou, however, redeemed herself two minutes later as she collected Carleigh Frilles’ cross before slotting past Indonesia goalkeeper Riska Apriia to surge the Malditas on top, 1-0.
The Malditas doubled their lead in the 27th minute when Bolden out jumped her markers to head home. The lead could have been wider for the Philippines at the half but was defended well by Aprilia.
The Philippines, however, were not denied in the second half as it took advantage of Indonesia’s poor backline defense, which led to an Annis crackling strike into the bottom right corner in the 56th minute.
After a few more possessions, the Malditas were awarded another penalty in the 73rd minute after an Indonesian player fouled Dominique Randle. Miclat easily slotted her penalty to make it 4-0 for the country.
Annis completed her brace in the 83rd minute with a long range conversion before Cesar capped off the Malditas’ masterful performance with her goal in the fourth minute of added time.
Prior to this victory, the national women’ football team opened their campaign with a 1-0 upset victory over Thailand before suffering a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Australia earlier this week./PN
