THE Phillippines pulled off a huge win to kick off its campaign in the U23 ASEAN Championship Mandiri Cup, taking down Malaysia, 2-0, on Wednesday at the Gelaro Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta.
Otu Banatao scored all the goals for the Philippines U23 squad in its first victory against Malaysia since the 2019 Southeast Asian Games - and the first in the tournament since 2022 when it defeated Brunei, 2-1.
Banatao strikes twice
Banatao made the first goal in the ninth minute following a set-up by Javier Mariona, then completed the brace in the 40th.
The Philippines held on behind the defense of goalkeeper Nic Guimaraes and defenders Joshua Merino, Noah Leddel, Ziggy Taningco, and Kamil Amirul.
The Philippines will face reigning champion Vietnam in its next game on Friday.
“I would like to thank our assistant Coach Popoy (Clarino) and our goalkeeper coach Joan (Lleida), who held a training camp a week prior," said Philippines coach Garrath McPherson.
“Every little thing helps. When you have a short journey, you just need to prioritize what it is that you want, to know and to understand. So we prioritized some key areas of how we want to approach the game, kept it very simple, and the rest is open to the players.”
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