The Philippines’ ASEAN Championship semifinals hopes dwindled after an equalizer from undefeated Vietnam denies the hosts the full three points.
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine men’s national football team (PMNFT) settled for a point to share with Vietnam after conceding an equalizer late in their ASEAN Mitsubushi Electric Cup Group B Encounter, 1-1, at the Rizal Memorial Stadium on Wednesday night.
After Jarvey Gayoso pulled the hosts ahead with a brilliant left foot shot against three defenders inside the box at the 68th minute, the hosts squandered three full points as Vietnam got past Patrick Deyto deep into added time.
Off of a corner, Deyto jumped to intercept the ball but couldn’t quite catch a hold of it and it fell onto the right place for Doan Ngoc Tan--who slotted the ball into an open net past Sandro Reyes who could not react in time to stun the 3,000-strong home crowd at Rizal Memorial.
The goal negated Deyto’s brilliant save just minutes before where he stopped a shot from Viet Anh Bui Hoang.
Despite being stunned by the equalizer, the home team continued to push to find a last-minute winner against the higher-ranked Viets, with Zico Bailey getting a good look on goal on a scramble in the box close to the 100th minute mark but unfortunately flew high above the bar.
The Philippines thus absorbs its third draw in just as many matches in their ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup campaign. The Filipinos fall to fourth place in the group table with three points.
Only the top two teams in each group qualify for the semis.
Because of the result tonight, wherein Myanmar also scored a 3-2 win over Laos earlier, the Philippines will need to win over Indonesia on Saturday, December 21, and then some to qualify for the knockout rounds.