At A Glance
- The Philippine men's football team kicked off its 33rd Southeast Asian Games campaign on a high note after essaying a 2-0 victory over Myanmar at the 700th Anniversary Stadium in Chiangmai, Thailand on Friday, Dec. 5.
The Philippine men’s football team kicked off its 33rd Southeast Asian Games campaign on a high note after essaying a 2-0 victory over Myanmar at the 700th Anniversary Stadium in Chiangmai, Thailand on Friday, Dec. 5.
The Nationals broke through with a 19th minute goal from Alex Monis before the relentless pressure from the Filipinos forced their foes to commit an own goal early in the second half.
The Filipinos bagged the full three points to take the early lead in the Group C standings.
A quick counterattack spearheaded by Dylan Demunyck made wonders for the Filipinos as he found the streaking Monis in the middle of the box with a well-placed cross. The men’s team midfielder then delivered the strike – much to the shock of the Burmese.
Though leading, the Filipinos kept their feet on the gas pedal as Demunyck once again found himself wide open on the left flank.
He fired another cross in hopes for one of his teammates to catch it and get in the position to score but Latt Wai Phone failed to clear the ball and ended up scoring an own goal at the 50th minute mark.
Desperate to recover, Myanmar was aggressive in the ensuing minutes of the second half but the defense of the Filipinos proved to be a tough nut to crack as they preserved a clean slate for their first game.
Up next for the men’s team is a match against Indonesia on Monday.