Football Philippines

VIENTIANE (21 Oct 2011) – Thailand came back from a goal down to beat Myanmar 3-1 as 10-women Philippines battled to a 2-2 draw in the final Group B match of the AFF Women’s Championship 2011.

With the win, Thailand will take on hosts Laos in the semi-finals while Myanmar will entertain Vietnam in the other tie.

In the match at the National Stadium, both the Philippines and Malaysia were eager to avoid the wooden spoon tag.

And while the Malaysians were attempting to exert control, it was the Philippines who nailed the first goal of the game when Kathleen Rodriguez capitalised on a Malaysian keeper Roszaini Bakar‘s mistake to slot into an open goal.

But the loss of captain Marielle Benitez at the end of the first half would soon turn the tide in Malaysia’s favour despite the score being 1-0 to the advantage of the Philippines.

Three minutes after the restart, Malaysia took advantage of a poor defensive clearance from the Philippines for captain Angela Kais to score the equaliser.

Ten minutes later, the Malaysian girls nailed their second goal off striker Fatin Azmi.

But just when Malaysia thought that they had the three points in the bag, they conceded a penalty when defender Malini Nordin was faulted for bringing in down Samantha Nierras inside the box.

Samantha had little trouble in blasting the ball to the top right hand corner of the Malaysian goal for the all-important equaliser.

Source: aseanfootball.org

For AFF Women’s Championship 2011 Fixtures, Schedule, Results and Standings, refer to the link provided

VIENTIANE (19 Oct 2011) – Thailand picked up the full six points after two matches with a 5-1 thrashing of the Philippines of the AFF Women’s Championship 2011 at the National Stadium.

Following up from their 8-1 humiliation of Malaysia in the opening match two days ago, the Thais were playing very much at the same level and showed no sign of letting up.

In the tenth minute, captain Junpen Seesraum nailed the opener with a stinging shot that came off the crossbar before crossing the line into goal.

The Philippines tried to move the ball forward but with them having difficulty to win the midfield battle, the afternoon was always going to be a long one despite the several ‘imported’ players on their side.

Some sustained pressure afterwards, saw Thailand finally getting down to business once again where in the 29th minute, Kanjana Sung-Jeon cut in through from the right, before putting the ball away past the reach of Philippines custodian Inna Palacios.

A minute to the end of the first half, it was 3-0 with a fine effort from Sunisa Srangthaisong from inside the box.

In a three minute blitz, midfielder Nisa Romyen nailed two goals on a trot to put Thaiand comfortably in front and in total control as they took their feet off the pedal.

The Thai camp then made several substitutions to allow the lesser players the chance to see action and this included introducing striker Taneekarn Dangda – the sister to Thai national striker Teerasil – to the fray.

With Thailand on cruise control, the Philippines managed to squeeze one goal in when a frantic chase for clearance allowed Samantha Nierras to head in the ball for the final score line.

Source: aseanfootball.org

For AFF Women’s Championship 2011 Fixtures, Schedule, Results and Standings, refer to the link provided

VIENTIANE (17 Oct 2011) – Myanmar scored a close 2-0 win over the Philippines as Thailand showed their pedigree with an 8-1 roasting of Malaysia on the second match day of the AFF Women’s Championship 2011 here at the National Stadium.

Myanmar, fielding a side which is being moulded for the SEA Games in 2013, were not expecting the Philippines to be much of a challenge.

“Sure we were expecting to score lots of goals but the Philippines have improved a lot and that made it tough for us,” said Yoshinori Kumada, the chief coach of Myanmar.

“We have to improve obviously from this first game where although the team played to instruction, we just did not score enough goals and we have to remedy that for the next match.”

Despite scoring the early goal in the fourth minute when My Nilar Htwe capitalised on a defensive error, the Myanmar girls found Philippines a hard nut to crack when the latter held out for long periods.

They even tried to catch Myanmar on the break but the Philippines girls just did not have enough pace to make things happen.

The closest they came to scoring a goal was a freekick at the half hour mark but the swerving shot from Natasha Alquiros flew just over the crossbar.

That failure to score saw My Nilar scoring the second goal for herself and also for Myanmar when she knocked the ball in from the far post off a cross from the right.

Myanmar stepped up the tempo in the second half but either through some fortunate defending or just plain hard work, the Philippines stood their ground all the way to the finish.

Source: aseanfootball.org

For AFF Women’s Championship 2011 Fixtures, Schedule, Results and Standings, refer to the link provided