By CARLO ANOLIN
The Philippine women’s national football team once again towered over Singapore, scoring a masterful 7-0 win in the 2022 AFF Women’s Championship Wednesday night, July 6 at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
Their confidence boosted by a stunning 1-0 win over the taller Aussie side Monday night, the Filipinas weaved through Singapore’s defense time and again to the delight of the crowd and to the disappointment of their rivals.
And after only 45 minutes of action, they were way ahead 4-0.
The Filipinas continued the onslaught in the next 45 minutes and scored three more goals to take the solo lead in Group A of the tournament with six points, four clear over Thailand which rallied to hold the Aussies to a 2-2 draw in the event organized by the Philippine Football Federation.
An additional three minutes were given but Singapore just couldn’t solve the puzzle that was the Philippines.
It was the third straight lopsided win by a PH side over a Singapore squad dating back the 2018 edition that saw them score a 3-0 win. The won 4-0 the following year.
Over at Binan Football Stadium in Laguna, Indonesia and Malaysia also settled for a 1-1 draw.
Isabella Flanigan set the tone for the Filipinas with an early goal at the 8th minute.
However, it was skipper Tahnai Aniss who shone brightest for the Filipinas by producing a brace..
Aniss scored in the 10th minute off an own-goal by Singapore goalie Beatrice Tan then had a long looping header in the 19th before Sarina Bolden came out with another brilliant header to cap the country’s mighty start.
Just two minutes into the next half though, Sarra Eggesvik zoomed through and found the back of the net before Kaya Hawkinson followed it up with another goal at the 55th minute mark.
The Philippines pulled away for good and never looked back at that point as Anicka Castaneda scored the seventh point off a Carleigh Frilles’ earlier attempt at the 69th minute mark.
Malaysia earned two points so far while Australia, Indonesia, and Singapore share one point apiece.