Azkals suffered a sorry drubbing at the hands of visiting Vietnam, 2-0, in the second round of the 2026 FIFA World Cup AFC qualifying tournament on Thursday night, Nov. 16, at the Rizal Memorial Stadium. 

The Azkals couldn’t hold off the feisty Vietnamese side’s late charge in the added time and found themselves with a double deficit in Group F. 

With the loss, the Philippines fell at the bottom spot with a goal difference of -2, while Vietnam set the pace for the early lead with three points and a +2 GD.

In what would be an early lead for the Azkals, Patrick Reichelt’s opening goal at the 15th-minute mark was nullified due to offside. 

Vietnam’s Nguyen Van Toan then found the breakthrough the following minute as the Philippines trailed. 

Not only was the Azkals suddenly down a goal, but the momentum completely shifted to the Vietnamese side as it held more possessions from then until the break. 

With 10,378 fans mostly present for the home bet, the Azkals had a lot of good chances to equalize or even stay ahead in the second half, but just couldn’t complete their attempts. 

In the 77th minute, Santiago Rublico came painfully close but he narrowly missed the back of the net as his attempt was wide to the right.

The equalizer kept falling on the Azkals’ lap, but any efforts went to waste as the Vietnamese side doubled down with a final goal from Nguyen Dinh Bac just before the final whistle.

“We’re still a little bit behind Vietnam. But we went toe to toe with them, considering the pressure, maybe a draw would have been a fair result,” Azkals head coach Michael Weiss. 

It was the Philippines' fifth straight loss against Vietnam as its last victory over the latter goes all the way back to the AFF Suzuki Cup in 2012. 

The Philippines is looking to redeem itself in front of the home crowd on Tuesday, Nov. 21, at 7 p.m. (Manila time) against visiting Indonesia at the same venue.