The Philippine women’s national football team bounced back strong to rip Indonesia, 4-1, on Sunday night at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium and reach the semifinals of the Asian Football Federation Women’s Championship.
Thanks to Sarina Bolden’s hat-trick, the Filipinas sealed the win, now have 12 points from four matches in Group A, and are safely through to the Final Four of the AFF tournament.
The Malditas had qualified for the 2023 FIFA World Cup in February – the first Filipino soccer team, male or female, to reach the sports’ highest level.
A howler by veteran goal-keeper Inna Palacios saw the Filipinas give up their first goal of the tournament, as Carla Bio Pattinasarany pounced on a stunning error by the Filipina No. 1 to put Indonesia ahead in the 38th minute.
But the Filipinas showed tremendous resolve and came back with renewed energy in the first half, where they put four goals into the back of the net to take the fight out of the Indonesians.
The star of the show was Sarina Bolden, who netted a hat-trick much to the delight of the 1,500-strong home crowd at the Rizal Memorial.
“You have to give credit to Indonesia,” said Philippines coach Alen Stajcic after the match. “They deserved the lead at halftime. They looked hungrier, their counter-attacks were threatening.”
“But for us not to play our best game, and to come back in the second half and show our resilience is a really good quality,” he added.
“It’s amazing resilience from the group, and in that respect, I’m really happy.”
“It’s really special,” Bolden said of scoring three goals on home turf. “It’s not every day that you get a hat-trick at home. I’m really proud of that, and really proud of my teammates for not giving up.”
Bolden took her tally to 14 international goals for the Philippines.
She now has five in the tournament, tying her with Australia’s Amy Sayer in the Golden Boot race.
The Filipinas will wrap up their Group A schedule against Thailand, in a match that will decide their seeding for the semifinal.
Thailand currently has 10 points after routing Malaysia, 4-0, at the Binan Football Stadium.
Earlier Sunday, Australia kept its hopes of making the semifinal alive after beating Singapore, 4-1, also at the Rizal Memorial.