THE Philippines seeks to clinch a semifinal berth on Sunday night as it faces Indonesia in the 2022 AFF Women’s Championship at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
With the team still unbeaten after three matches, the Filipinas vie for a return trip to the semifinals in their clash with Indonesia at 7 p.m.
See Four-goal Filipinas make it three wins after dominating Malaysia
Indonesia is in fifth place with one point after drawing with Malaysia, 1-1, on July 6. It was routed by Australia, 4-0, last Friday.
The Pinay booters are fresh from their 4-0 win over Malaysia to take the top spot in Group A with nine points. After the Indonesia match, the Philippines braces for Thailand, runners-up from the 2019 edition of the competition and the silver medalist in the Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam.
Alen Stajcic says the Philippine team can't take any team lightly.
Even with their impressive showing with a clean sheet, head coach Alen Stajcic said he wants more from the players.
“That’s a long way off at the moment,” said the Australian coach, referring to the semifinals. “We don’t want to put the cart before the horse as we say in Australia. The old cliché is there for a reason. You have to take one game at a time. Every athlete and every team say that because it’s important. You can’t go far ahead of yourself.”
Sara Eggesvik scored her second goal of the tournament against Malaysia, scoring in the 32nd minute to start off the blowout match. Kiara Fontanilla also maintained the clean sheet of the Philippines in the tournament.
“We are going to stay humble and keep our feet on the ground. And you have to appreciate the difficulty of each match. And [the match against Malaysia] was not an easy match. It was a very long drawn out match, frustrating at times. There’s also room to improve,” said Stajcic.
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