MANILA – The Philippine men’s football team pulled off a massive 2-1 upset against Thailand in the first leg of the 2024 ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup semifinals on late Friday at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila.
Sandro Reyes and Kike Linares connected a goal each for the Philippines as they finally secured a victory against the seven-time champions after 52 years.
“We’ll give it everything. The Thailand team came out really strong, stronger than us,” Reyes said in a post-game interview.
“Good things we know how to suffer. We suffered the entire Group Stage and I think the Group Stage was the perfect practice for this,” he added.
Reyes delivered the opening goal for the Philippines in the 21st minute but the visiting team managed to tie the score in the 45th minute courtesy of Suphanan Bureerat.
After several misses from both sides, the Philippine team knocked down another goal in the 94th minute courtesy of a long-range connection from Linares.
The Philippine team notched the victory even with the absence of Armani Aguinaldo due to a suspension, and Gerrit Holtmann due to his commitment with VfL Bochum in the Bundesliga.
Also missing from the lineup is scoring forward Patrick Reichelt, who announced his retirement after the group stage matches, and Patrick Deyto due to an injury.
Regardless of the historic first-leg win, the Philippine team still needs to win against Thailand in the second leg on Monday night in Bangkok to proceed to the finals.
The Philippines entered the semifinals for the first time in six years with a 1-3-0 win-draw-loss record in Group B./PN
