MANILA – The Philippine women’s football team failed to hang on to its early lead to suffer a 2-4 defeat at the hands of Chinese-Taipei in the 2020 women’s football Olympic qualifier on Sunday at the Grand Hamad Stadium in Doha, Qatar.
The Malditas stunned the Chinese-Taipei in the early going of the match with Joyce Semacio delivering the opening goal – a 40-yard scorcher in the 13th minute – after catching goalkeeper Liao Wen-Chi out of position.
The Philippine squad went on to extend the advantage at the 32nd minute as Patricia Tomanon collected a rebound that fell into her path before unleashing a top-of-the-box strike.
The Chinese-Taipei was able to come to within 1-2 at the half with Michelle Pao scoring on a spot kick after she was fouled by a Filipina player. The match was tied early in the second half on an own goal violation by the Malditas.
Pao made her presence felt again in the second half as he shot was deflected off Alesa Dolino’s head resulting on another own goal. Ting Chi put the game from within reach by Malditas with an 87th minute strike.
The Malditas could have seized the group stage lead had it won against Chinese Taipei after starting their campaign in the tournament with a 2-0 victory over Iran on April 4.
The Malditas will now have to win their final match against Palestine on Wednesday morning at the Saoud Bin Abdulrahman Stadium for any hope of advancing to the next round./PN
