The Philippine Men’s National Football Team takes another 1-1 draw in the ASEAN Championship, their third in a row.
The Philippine Men’s National Football Team (PMNFT) nearly had it, their first win over Vietnam since 2012, thanks to a 68th-minute goal by Jarvey Gayoso and an important save by goalkeeper Patrick Deyto five minutes into injury time that allowed the team to hold onto a 1-0 lead — and on their home turf, no less.
However, a relentless Vietnam continued to fight back in search of an equalizer, even until the dying minutes of the match. After a corner in the 97th minute slipped past Deyto’s fingertips, the ball found Ngoc Tan Doan, who only needed to take a header to find the back of the net to close the match with a 1-1 draw.
This result keeps Vietnam at the top of Group B with nine points, and secures their slot in the semifinals of the tournament.
Meanwhile, the Philippines sit in fourth with only three points from three games. The silver lining is that they are only one point behind both Indonesia and Myanmar who hold second and third place in the Group B table, respectively — however, this only makes the team’s upcoming match all the more important.
Different games, same results
The Philippines are now on a three-game draw streak in the ASEAN Championship, after consecutive 1-1 ties against Myanmar, Laos, and now Vietnam. However, PMNFT Head Coach Albert Capellas stressed that all three have been very different experiences for the team.
“It has been three different games. The first game [against Myanmar], we had 28 shots, which we really deserved to win for a big difference,” said Capellas in the post-game conference. “Second game [against Laos], the field was very bad, it was very difficult to move the ball, the ball was bouncing…
“And today was a different game. Today was a 50-50 game. It was more of a battle.”
The Philippines came out the gates looking strong, holding their own against the Group favorites Vietnam, and controlling possession. But as the match matured, the visitors began to pump the aggression while the Philippines’ midfield struggled to maintain control of the ball.
The Philippines finally got their first big chance of the evening when Michael Baldisimo slid the ball to Sandro Reyes, who took a left-footed shot from outside of the box and just barely missed.
Having gone into halftime at a stalemate, both teams came into the second half with higher octane, building up with more pace and taking turns slotting in chances.
It was Jarvey Gayoso, who came on as a sub in the 66th-minute, who made the difference for the PMNFT. After a long ball failed to find Mariona, Gayoso chased after the ball inside the box and confidently took a left-footed strike to put it past Vietnam’s keeper to bring the Philippines ahead, just two minutes after he came on.
This sent the 3,000-plus fans in the Rizal Memorial Stadium into a frenzy, and the PMNFT held on for dear life to keep the visiting side at bay. But with eight minutes of injury time added at the top of the 90th minute, the visiting team continued to press high up on the pitch in search of an equalizer.
Seven minutes into injury time the visitors gained another late opportunity. A Vietnam corner that seemed to just graze over Deyto’s outstretched hands landed right in front of Doãn Ngoc Tân, who converted a header to salvage a potential loss to the home team. The final whistle blew, and the 1-1 draw felt more like a loss to the PMNFT.
Reflecting on the final few minutes of the match, Capellas expressed, “I’m very sad for the players because I think from the three games, we deserve more [from] every game, and I’m very sad for them because I know how much they fight for the national team.
“Now we have to go to Indonesia. We go immediately to the airport, we fly tonight without sleeping, only two days. We have to travel a lot, only one day of training, and playing the most important game for us against Indonesia, and they have five days off.”
The most important game
Coach Albert Capellas, the Philippines’ goalscorer for the night Jarvey Gayoso, and keeper Patrick Deyto all echoed the same sentiment at the end of the match: they are all looking at their game against Indonesia as their most crucial one of the elimination round of the ASEAN Championship.
“We are still positive,” Gayoso told the media after the draw to Vietnam. “We told ourselves technically the most important game is the Indonesia game, and if you look at the table sila yung importanteng kalaban. So a loss, a win, or a draw, sila yung importanteng match namin. So ang focus lang namin is recovery para makalaro kami ng one hundred percent.”
Deyto added, “We have an important game in the next two days, so we have to focus on the next one right away…Coming into this game we already knew that was gonna be the one — the last game is going to decide the semifinal.”
Despite their disappointment in the draw today, hope is not lost for the Philippines in the ASEAN Championship. A win against Indonesia on December 21, Saturday would grant the PMNFT a much-needed three points to lift them up to second place in the table and potentially, grant them a semifinals berth.
But their fate is not only in their hands. After Myanmar defeated Laos 3-2 earlier today, the Philippines must also hope that Vietnam wins their final match against Myanmar on Saturday to keep their hopes of advancing alive.
But looking ahead to the all-important task, Coach Albert remains confident in his team, and takes tonight’s performance as a positive sign.
“I’m sure they are one hundred percent motivated. I really think if they fight like they did today and we create the chances that we created also in the other games, I think we have chance to win the game. As a coach, I know that they will go there, even without rest, even with only two days off, two days between, I know they will go there and they will fight to try to win and qualify.”
Images courtesy of the PMNFT.