Luisa Morales - Philstar.com
MANILA, Philippines — Four Filipinas scored for the Philippine U17 women’s national football team in their debut performance at the 2024 AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup, as they drubbed host country Indonesia, 6-1, at the Kapten I Wayan Dipta Stadium on Monday.
Skipper Alexa Pino and Natalie Collins both found the target twice to lead the Young Filipinas to the resounding win in their first foray into the competition.
Pino got things going as she scored early in the seventh minute to pull the visitors ahead, while also tallying the country’s first-ever goal in tournament history.
Though the Indonesians leveled the match five minutes later with a goal from Claudia Scheunemann in the 12th minute, the Filipina booters were quick to recover.
Jael Guy got the lead back for the Filipinas U17 after 22 minutes of play as she got past Indonesia keeper Gadhiza Asnanza, 2-1.
From then on, the floodgates opened for the Filipinas as they tacked on two more before the halftime whistle, with Ariana Markey and Pino scoring goals in the 29th and 36th minute, respectively.
At the break, the debutants were comfortably ahead, 4-1.
But the Filipinas were not done yet as Collins netted two goals in the second half to complete the five-goal rout in a spirited start to their campaign.
The Philippines is now in prime position to compete for a spot in the 2024 FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup should it reach the semifinals.
But the squad would need to finish in the Top 2 of Group A first to get into the knockout rounds, beginning with the quarterfinals.
Currently, the Philippines (3 points, +5GD) is behind North Korea (3 points, +7GD) in the standings.
The Filipinas face North Korea next on Thursday, May 9, at the Bali United Training Center. Kick-off is at 4 p.m. (Manila time).
