HANOI – The Philippine women’s football team lost to reigning champion Vietnam, 2-1, on Wednesday in the 31st Southeast Asian Games at the Cam Pha Stadium in Quang Ninh.
Filipinas vs Vietnam
The Filipinas bowed to the host despite the early goal by Tahnai Annis to suffer their first defeat after a 5-0 win over Cambodia to start their campaign.
The Philippines is still ahead in Group A with three points but a +4 goal difference, with Vietnam in second with +1 goal difference. Vietnam will face Cambodia with the final score to determine the seedings of the host and the Philippines going into the crossover semifinals.
In a match-up between two teams that made it to the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup, Annis scored in the 15th minute but Vietnam equalized courtesy of Nguyen Thi Tuyet Dung in the 38th minute.
The Filipinas conceded the marginal goal five minutes into the second half by Tran Thi Thuy Trang behind 16,100 fans at the venue.
Philippines head coach Alen Stajcic admitted the capacity crowd had an effect on the team.
"We may have a little bit of fatigue and a little bit of nerves playing in such big crowd. I thought at the beginning, we were the better team. I thought in the middle, they were the better team. In the last 10, 20 minutes, I thought we were the better team."
"I think Vietnam should be proud of how they supported their team tonight," said Stajcic.
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