Pinay booters reach Round 2

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines advanced to the second round of the Qualifiers for the 2019 AFC U16 Women’s Championship after landing among the best group runners-up in the first round of hostilties in various venues over the weekend.

The impressive Filipinas won two of their three assignments in Group E, beating host Nepal, 4-0, and Malaysia, 1-0, to gain entry into the second phase alongside China, Laos, Iran, Australia, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Vietnam.

“It was a surreal feeling especially as Myanmar and Malaysia were the favorites (in the group) to go through. But the players showed heart and worked their way to win the matches,” said Phl coach Joyce Landagan.”It’s fulfilling and I’m happy because in the span of two weeks, we were successful in molding them into a team, a sisterhood and that was the deciding factor on the pitch.” 

Maria Lazo fired a brace while Keanne Alamo and Miakela Villacin joined the fray as Phl U16 opened its campaign with a 4-0 thrashing of Nepal. Alamo was on target anew in the next game, delivering the 81st minute winner versus Malaysia as the side went 2-0 and put themselves in good position to progress.

The Filipinas lost to Myanmar in the final group game, 1-5, to yield top honors in Group E but still made it to the next round after ranking third among the second-placed teams across all the groups behind Iran and Vietnam.