THE Philippines is clinging on to its semifinal hopes in the Asean Championship-Mitsubishi Electric Cup despite Thursday’s painful 1-1 draw with Vietnam.
After blowing a one-goal lead and yielding a late equalizer to the Golden Star Warriors for their third straight draw, the Filipinos slipped to fourth in Group B with three points behind Vietnam (seven points on 2-1-0 win-draw-loss), Indonesia (four on 1-1-1) and Myanmar (four on 1-1-1).
The Pinoy booters can still save this campaign but it’s not totally on their hands.
First, they must take care of business and beat the Indonesians in the final day of group play on Saturday in Surakarta to finish with seven points.
At the same time, they keep their fingers crossed that Myanmar loses or at least draws with the Vietnamese in Viet Tri City to clear the way for their semis stint.
“Very sad that we didn’t get the result we wanted (against Vietnam). I felt like we deserved to win and get the three points. But we’re still alive and we will do everything we can to go to Indonesia and go through,” said defender Adrian Ugelvik.
Rallied by a 3,336-strong home crowd, the Filipinos fought the pacesetting Golden Star Warriors tooth and nail and even drew first blood in the 68th on a left-footed strike by newlywed Jarvey Gayoso.
They held on to this cushion well into the end of regulation and the majority of the eight-minute added time. But in the seventh minute, Doan Ngoc Tan sneaked in the tying header off a set piece to stun the home crowd.
“I’m sure they are 100% motivated (to get the job done against Indonesia),” said coach Albert Capellas, whose wards boarded their plane for Indonesia hours after the match with Vietnam.
“I really think if they fight like they did today (Thursday) and we create the chances that we create also in the other games (Myanmar and Laos), we have a chance. I know that they will go there even without rest even on two days off and they will fight as hell to try to win and qualify.” — Olmin Leyba
