The Philippine women’s national football team Filipinas absorbed a 1-0 beating at the hands of Australia’s U23 in the 2025 ASEAN Women’s Championship (MSIG Serenity Cup) at the Viet Tri Stadium, Phu Tho, Vietnam on Sunday night.?
The world No. 39 Filipinas couldn’t draw strength from their 7-0 opening win at the expense of Timor-Leste a few days ago, and went empty-handed against the youth-laden Australian side to settle for a 1-0-1 (win-draw-loss) record in Group B.?
With this, Myanmar provisionally claimed the top of the standing with back-to-back wins against Australia (2-1) and Timor-Leste (3-0) which included a decent +4 goal difference (GD).
The Philippines, though, remained in contention with its +6 GD as two of the top teams are set to advance to the knockout stage which features crossover matches with the winners of Group A.?
In 2022, the Nationals led by Sarina Bolden defeated Australia’s U23 with a lone goal in the second half, where they also finished in second place of the group stage on their way to the title.?
This time, Australia only needed the first half to set the tone of the match following Alana Jancevski’s brilliantly angled left-footed shot that found the left corner of the net at the 45+1 minute.
The Mark Torcaso-coached Filipinas rallied in the second half with multiple shots on target despite the Australian’s tight defensive scheme but to no avail.?
Olivia McDaniel then made a double save in the final minute of regular time to avoid digging themselves further into a hole.
The Philippines and Myanmar dispute the top spot of Group B on Wednesday at LachTray Stadium, Haiphong at 8:30 p.m.
—JKC, GMA Integrated News
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