It was goal city for the Filipinas today as they pulled off another dominant performance over Papua New Guinea, winning their second friendly match with a score of 9-0.
Over the past week, the Philippine Women’s National Football Team have been training in Sydney, Australia in preparation for their two friendly matches against Papua New Guinea’s team, also known as the Lakatois.
Indeed, their time abroad has proven to be purposeful as they will be coming home for the holidays hot off a couple of fresh victories.
Today’s win marks the Philippine Women’s National Football Team’s second win over Papua New Guniea, just three days after their 5-1 win.
Securing the early lead
Sara Eggesvik opened the Philippines’ scoring early in the first half with a goal off an assist from Katrina Guillou 11 minutes into the match.
At the 24-minute mark, the Filipinas again came alive to widen their lead. It was Guillou this time who was able to score off a cross by Quinley Quezada, bringing the team to a 2-0 advantage.
Throughout the remainder of the first half, Papua New Guinea was unable to cut down the early deficit. The Filipinas maintained composure, held possession, and still continued to build opportunities to grow their comfortable lead.
Goals, goals, and more goals
The Filipinas opened their second half scoring even more quickly than the first half.
After a poor clearance by the Lakatois, Jessica Cowart took possession of the ball, and finding clear space on the field, curled it straight into the back of the net at the 46-minute mark.
Team captain Tahnai Annis widened the gap even further, nailing her one-touch strike right into the top left of the net, scoring the team’s fourth goal.
And as though it couldn’t get even better for the Filipinas, an own goal by Papua New Guinea barely two minutes later brought the score to 5-0. Throughout the rest of the second half, the Filipinas continued to press, Papua New Guinea desperate to stop the leaking.
However, they were unable to.
The Filipinas never shied away from the attack, and Quezada went on to score the sixth goal of the game. Their seventh later came off a calm and collected penalty shot from Guillou, bringing the match to 7-0.
Quezada, with just over five minutes left in the match, scored her second goal and the team’s eighth with a finish off a perfectly timed cross from Guillou. Just two minutes later, she scored her third, recording a hattrick to bring the Filipinas to a 9-0 victory.
The final whistle blew—a relief for Papua New Guinea—signaling the end of the match and the end of the Filipinas 2022 run.
The Filipinas, throughout the entire second half, still continued to attack as though they were trying to fight for a win. This fighting spirit will surely come in handy as they continue to build their efforts in preparing for the upcoming 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Now, the team will be flying home to spend the holidays on a major high, ready to take on 2023.
Banner image from Philippine WNT on Twitter.