Poor start spells doom for brave PH booters

The semifinal return wasn’t meant to be for the youth-laden Philippine men’s football team after its campaign in the Asean Hyundai Cup came to an end with Saturday’s 1-0 away defeat at the hands of Malaysia.

For midfielder Sandro Reyes, the tournament should serve as a big lesson moving forward as the Filipinos finished fourth out of five teams in Group B with three points.

“We started off really badly, and then we got better as the tournament went on,” Reyes said. “I think it was a learning experience that we can’t start these tournaments on (the) wrong foot because things could turn very difficult.”

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The Philippines opened the prestigious Southeast Asian competition on a rough note, going down, 4-1, at the hands of Myanmar before a disappointed home crowd at the New Clark City Athletics Stadium in Capas, Tarlac.

Another bad result looked to be in the offing the following match when it conceded an opener against group minnow Laos, before putting on a goalscoring spree in the second half to win, 4-1, in Vientiane.

Then came a heartbreaking result back in Tarlac against Thailand, losing, 1-0, after allowing a goal in the 84th minute. A draw would have given the Filipinos strong odds to qualify.

Instead, the Philippines came into Malaysia needing not just a six-goal victory, but a Myanmar loss to Thailand. Hopes of getting that result quickly vanished when Malaysia struck the only goal in the 16th courtesy of Gunalan Pavithran.

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“You want to start off [the tournament] on a good note in the group, so that you are [within reach of] the first two positions throughout the weeks,” said Reyes.

Coach Carles Cuadrat’s side failed to repeat its 2024 semifinal run after a tournament that saw the Filipinos missing key players like Bjorn Kristensen, Ralph Obemair, Randy Schneider and Amani Aguinaldo, among others.

The Hyundai Cup, despite being moved from late in the calendar to the middle part of the year, is still not held during Fifa windows, thus teams are not required to release players for international duty, though MLS player Cole Mrowka of the Columbus Crew was able to play.