THE Philippines walloped Timor-Leste, 7-0, on Thursday night at the start of their title-retention bid in the ASEAN MSIG Serenity Cup at the Viet Tri Stadium in Phu Tho, Vietnam.
Aaliyah Schinaman scored a goal in her international debut two minutes into the match, and it was all Filipinas from there. Quinley Quezada had one of her two goals in the seventh minute, and Hali Long sent a header into the back of the net in the ninth minute to show their superiority early on.
Quezada knocked in her second goal in the 32nd as Dionesa Tolentin also registered a brace in the 57th and 64th minute for the Filipinas, and was later named as the player of the match.
The youngsters took over from there with Adelaide Wyrzynski also knocking in a goal in her international debut in the 75th.
The victory got the Philippines on the right foot in their defense of the championship they won in 2022 in Manila.
“Overall, I think it was pretty good, the goals that we wanted to get. We definitely could have gotten more so there’s more growing and learning,” said Filipinas skipper Hali Long.
“But really proud of the group that we put out today and all the subs that came on the bench really had good energy,” Long added.
By virtue of their lopsided win, the Filipinas took the early lead in Group B ahead of Myanmar, which defeated Australia U23, 2-1, early in the day.
The Philippines’ next opponent will be the Australia U23 on August 10 at the Viet Tri Stadium.
“We don’t take any team lightly,” said Long. “We don’t know which way this group is going to go. It was a pretty good game before us, the 2-1 with Myanmar coming on top. Looking forward to looking at that game and seeing what results we can pull out in the next game.”
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