THE historic run of the Philippines in the 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup came to an end on Thursday after a 2-0 defeat to a superior Korea side at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune, India.
A header by Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Cho So Hyun off a corner in the fourth minute set the tone early for the Koreans on their way to the final where they will face either China or Japan.
Son Hwa Yeon added another goal in the 34th from short distance against the defense of the Philippines, which went into the game on a high following a dramatic quarterfinal victory over Chinese Taipei last Sunday.
World Cup-bound
Despite the loss, the outlook still looks bright for the Filipina booters, who arrived in India with little expectations and ended up securing a historic place at the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup.
Philippines goalkeeper Olivia McDaniel was a bright spot for the team with heroicn's saves all match long, but the team just couldn’t create decent chances on offense to rebound from the Koreans' fiery start.
The best chance of the Philippines came in the 33rd minute with Sarina Bolden unable to score on a short header.
Chandler McDaniel, the goal scorer in the team's opening group stage match against Thailand, also got hurt in the second half.
Philippines head coach Alen Stajcic said conceding an early goal was a huge blow, but was proud to see the team fight to the very end.
“It was a very tough match. Obviously, I said yesterday, Korea will probably be the better team,” said Stajcic. “We hoped to be able to put pressure in the scoreboard but that didn’t happen. Korea obviously dominated and had more chances. We had five or six half-chances.
“But the best part about today is that the players, after 120 minutes the other night [against Taiwan], they fought right to the death. It’s an amazing amount of heart, courage, and spirit in this group.
"I know I’m proud of them. I know the whole coaching staff are all proud. I think all the people back home in the Philippines should be so proud of this group. They’ve come such a long way in such a short space of time,” Stajcic said.
The Philippines now looks ahead to three major competitions this year as part of the build-up for the World Cup. That includes the Southeast Asian Games where the team fondly called the Malditas will definitely be a contender for the gold.
But first things first, the Philippine Football Federation will need to renew the services of Stajcic with his contract expiring at the end of the campaign.
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