Thanks to a historic win over Thailand, a breakthrough Finals appearance for the Philippine Men's National Football Team in the ASEAN Championship may no longer be just a dream.
14 years after the famed Miracle of Hanoi, the “Himala sa Manila” has breathed new life into Philippine football.
That’s what you get after an electric Filipino win over Thailand in the ASEAN Championship, a first for our local booters against the War Elephants in 52 years.
“The job is not done yet, not even halfway there,” said an exuberant Sandro Reyes after a historic 2-1 win over Thailand in the first leg of the semifinals of the ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup on Friday at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium.
“We have a tough second leg down in Thailand and we want to play a Final here [at the Rizal Memorial Stadium],” he added.
The 2-1 victory marked the first ever win for the Philippines at the semifinal stage of the ASEAN Championship, and the first triumph in any competition against Thailand since 1972.
Sandro Reyes got the opening goal in the 21st minute before Thailand equalized shortly before halftime.
Defender Kike Linares then got the go-ahead goal deep in added time, sending the Filipino fans into a frenzy.
But it wasn’t all butterflies and rainbows for the Philippines in Rizal.
The Filipinos were arguably the better team in the first half and the numbers back them up.
The hosts had the slight edge in terms of possession at 52 percent and registered one more shot than their Thai opposition.
The Philippines only conceded after poor transition defense following what should have been another scoring opportunity from a corner in the 44th minute.
The second half was controlled by Thailand as they took hold of the ball to the tune of 58 percent possession and registered a whopping 11 attempts, compared to the two for the Philippines in that period.
Fortunately for the Filipinos, the Thais only managed to test goalkeeper Quincey Kameraad three times in the second half.
“First half was clearly for the Philippines, we really played very good against a very good team,” Philippine coach Albert Capellas said.
“The second half, especially the first 25 minutes, was tougher. They had two or three chances, we were lucky in that moment.”
It is apparent that Capellas prefers his team to approach the second leg like they did in the first half on Friday night.
However, that would be a tough task considering the home field advantage the Thais are set to receive at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok on Monday, December 30.
“With a lot of energy, with a lot of hope if we play like the first half I think we have chances to go to the Final,” Capellas said.
Sandro Reyes on form, redemption for Kike Linares
The two goal scorers have had interesting stories throughout the Philippines’ run in the tournament.
On the one hand you have the 21-year-old Sandro Reyes, who has been one of the breakout stars for the Philippines in the competition.
It is hard to believe this is actually Sandro’s third time in the Mitsubishi Electric Cup.
Sandro has been one of the more ambitious players on the pitch for the Philippines, leading the way along with Zico Bailey in terms of forward passes and is willing to try his luck as soon as he gets his sights on goal.
A quick look at Sandro’s xG, which is a metric assigning a probability of scoring a goal based on historical data and positioning, throughout the tournament shows how aspirational he is.
Sandro’s goal against Laos registered an xG of only 0.14, while his stunner against Thailand was listed at 0.05.
The wonder boy from Muntinlupa has been audacious in what he has tried and his efforts have paid off so far.
Next is Kike Linares, a defender who was taken off field in the 1-1 draw against Vietnam in the group stage after only 25 minutes despite not being injured.
Linares also didn’t feature at all in the 1-0 win against Indonesia and had to watch from the bench as the team booked their ticket to the semifinals.
With Amani Aguinaldo suspended for the game against Thailand due to accumulated yellow cards, Linares was called up to secure the back.
It was almost poetic for Linares to be the man to give the nod to push the Philippines beyond Thailand in the first part of these semifinals.
Still, Philippine coach Albert Capellas clarified he only took off Kike against Vietnam because of the yellow card he received in the third minute of that game.
According to Capellas, he wanted to finish the game with 11 players and had to take Linares off.
But according to the Spanish mentor, Linares grew from that moment and discovered the value of staying on the pitch for the entire game.
“Today he learned that lesson, that means he could finally play all 90 minutes and he scored the winning goal. He got the prize.”
Kike’s exploits are going to give the coaching staff a good selection problem for the second leg, considering that Amani Aguinaldo is set to return for that as well.
The Philippines have the chance to continue their Cinderella run in the ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup on Monday when they try to hold off Thailand on their own home ground at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok.