By CARLO ANOLIN
The Philippines bucked a mishap late in the first half and booked a ticket to the semifinals with a 4-1 win over the Indonesians in the 2022 AFF Women’s Championship before a cheering crowd Sunday night, July 10, at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
Striker Sarina shone brightest in the Filipinas’ come-from-behind win by completing a hat trick while skipper Tahnai Annis provided the equalizer that turned out to be the catalyst the team needed to turn the game around.
The win solidified the Filipinas’ hold of the lead in Group A with 12 points while Thailand followed suit with 10 points at No. 2.
Both teams are now assured advancing to the next round thought they will clash on Tuesday to determine the group’s topnotcher.
Over at the Binan Football Stadium, the Thais made easy work of Malaysia, 4-0, while Australia also eked out a 4-1 victory against Singapore earlier at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
“It’s a good game to have as experience. You really gotta give credit to Indonesia. I thought they were the better team in the first and fully deserved the win — their lead at that time,” said Filipinas head coach Alen Stajcic after the match.
“But for us to come back and show a lot of resilience and good character within the squad so it’s good to be in that good position in one respect.”
Down 1-0 after a costly misread from Filipinas’ goalkeeper Inna Palacios, the Philippines went berserk in the next 45 minutes, controlling the game with razor-sharp passes.
The crowd then went wild just one minute gone in the second half when Annis, who was at the right place at the right time, blasted a 30-foot roller off a cross by
Sofia Harrison. That pass was directed to Bolden.
The rampage continued with Sara Eggesvik delighting the crowd once more with superb control of the ball as she snaked past two defenders before flicking the ball to the rushing Bolden who completed the goal in the 57th mark.
In less than 10 minutes, Jaclyn Sawicki once again found both Flanigan and Bolden open near the goalie’s area but it was the latter who found the back of the net at the 63rd minute.
And it only took three minutes for the 26-year-old Bolden to complete the treble – her fifth in the tournament –
The smoldering comeback more than made up for the blunder of veteran Palacios, who bungled the back pass of defender Chantelle Maniti, enabling Carlo Pattinasarany to pounce on the mistake and score the first goal in the 37th minute.
After posting their sixth straight win dating back to their friendly matches from their European training camp, Stajcic reiterated his appeal to hometown fans for their match against Thailand on Tuesday “to rock the stadium because that is an extra factor there.
“The bigger the atmosphere the more chance we have of winning this tournament and that’s the whole point of having hometown advantage and help us get over the line.”
