The Philippines asserted mastery over reigning champion Vietnam and eked out a 4-0 domination in the semifinals of the 2022 AFF Women's Championship Friday night, July 15, at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
The Filipinas finally barged into the finals, their best outing so far in the tournament, and arranged another showdown against Group A rivals Thailand on Sunday, July 17.
The Thais remained undefeated throughout the tournament and bested Myanmar, 2-0, earlier at the same venue.
Hali Long set the pace for the Philippines after chalking up the first goal at the 31st mark with a header off a Tahnai Annis corner kick.
It was all the Filipinas from that point on, behind the efforts of Annis and Sarina Bolden, as the Vietnamese just couldn't find the back of the net.
"That was probably our most complete performance," said Filipinas head coach Alen Stajcic.
With momentum on their side, it only took a couple of minutes in the next half for team captain Annis to convert the second goal for the Philippines.
Annis showed poise on the penalty kick and fired off a powerful strike past Vietnamese goalkeeper Tran Thi Kim Thanh at the 51st minute.
Sarina Bolden also shared the limelight with Annis at the 61st mark as the former scored a header off the latter's corner assist.
Bolden doubled her performance ten minutes later at the 71st minute with yet another remarkable header from Quinley Quezada's pass inside the box, which was actually off a rebound from Carleigh Frilles' earlier attempt.
Frilles' strike hit the crossbar but Quezada managed to control the ball and set it up over Bolden with a soft yet high assist as confusion arose over the Vietnamese side.