THE Philippines suffered a 5-0 loss at the hands of Iraq on Tuesday night, hurting further its chances of advancing to the next round of the Fifa World Cup 2026 qualifiers.
Two first-half goals from Aymen Hussein left the Philippines in a huge hole it never got out of. The home side dropped its third defeat in the second round of qualifiers to stay at the bottom of Group F with a point.
The Philippines also lost to Iraq, 1-0, last Friday.
The road has become tougher for PMNT to progress into the World Cup qualifiers with only two matches remaining, but the squad can still look forward to the Asian Cup 2027 with the competition being a joint qualifier.
Hussein opened scoring on a penalty kick in the 14th after a foul by Jefferson Tabinas inside the box. He fired another goal in the 37th, six minutes after Amir Fouad made it a double.
The Filipino booters didn’t have a clear shot at goal all match long as Zindae Aamar Iqbal (62nd) and Zaid Tahseen Hantoosh (77th) turned the qualifier into a full-blown rout.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
