Malditas end AFF campaign with draw

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Malditas bucked manpower shortage as they salvaged a 2-2 draw with Malaysia to end their campaign with a 0-1-2 (win-draw-loss) in the AFF Women’s Championship in Vientiane, Laos.

Playing with only 10 players after captain Marielle Benitez was sent off at the 45th, the Malditas averted a loss when Sam Nierras was fouled by Malaysian defender Malini Nordin inside the box at the 84th.

Nierras blasted the ball to the top right hand corner of the Malaysian goal to nail the equalizer, which eventually gave the Filipinas one point after the group stage.

The Malditas edged the Malaysians (one point) for third spot in Group B via goal difference (-6 against -15). Unbeaten Thailand (nine points) topped the bracket and advanced into the semis with group runner-up Myanmar (six points).

“The team is totally devastated. We even stayed back and discussed what went wrong. I told them, let us learn from this experience, and move forward. I told them that the pain they are feeling will eventually go away,” said coach Ernest Nierras, whose wards earlier fell to Myanmar (0-2) and Thailand (1-5) to bow out of the semis.

“What we need to do now is to train harder and prepare for the next challenge. What is important is that they were able to regroup and tie the game,” he added.

Phl actually drew first blood when Kathleen Rodriguez pounced on an error by Malaysian goalie Roszaini Bakar to slot into an open goal 20 minutes into the match.

Benitez’s red card gave Malaysia an added edge in the second half as captain Angelas Kais scored off a poor defensive clearance by the Filipinas (48th) then striker Fatin Azmi padded the lead 10 minutes later.

“We dominated this game. Unfortunately, we suffered some key injuries, that forced us to make some unplanned substitutions,” said Nierras, referring to injuries to Phl’s right back and center holding mid. “This forced us to scramble people around so that we could continue to execute our game plan.”