AFF Women's Futsal Championship: Vietnam beats Philippines; Indonesia wins

MANILA, Philippines — The night before the Vietnam-Philippines match in the 2024 AFF Women’s Futsal Championship, Vietnamese coach Nguyen Dinh Hoang underscored the need to strike first and to keep the expected partisan crowd of the PhilSports Arena inconsequential.

Except, the Philippines came out playing with plenty of spunk and fire that had Vietnam on the back heel for much of the first 10 minutes of the half with their pressing and lightning fast attack on top of the stellar goalkeeping of Samantha Hughes. 

While the Vietnamese were ratcheting up their shots on goal, Hughes was up to the task.

It was a turnover by the Philippines that gave Hoang’s team some relief. Tran Thi Lan Mai and K’Thua K’Thua double-teamed the Philippines’ Lanie Ortillo and gained possession perilously close to the Philippines’ goal.

Tran Thi Lan Mai fired a shot from a sharp angle that breached Hughes’ defense for the breakthrough goal. 

Three minutes later, Vietnam team captain Trin Nguyen Thanh Hang headed the ball in for a 2-0 goal lead that deflated their foes.

Despite the goal, the Philippines went back on the offense and continued to trouble Vietnam. However, the Pinays were unable to find the equalizer.

The second half saw the Philippines turn the ball over several times with misplaced passes and this time, Vietnam pounced when Le Thi Thanh Ngan fired from just within the penalty area to double their lead.

The goal saw the air go out of the boisterous Filipino crowd as Ngan gestured to the crowd to sit down.

In the 14th minute, Alisha Del Campo gave her team and the crowd a shot of life when she latched onto a perfect pass Hazel Lustan to fire from close range and pull back one, 2-1.

A minute later, Vietnam team captain Trinh Nguyen Hang found Nguyen Phoang Anh who cut inside the penalty area then flicked it past an unsuspecting Catherine Graversen and Hughes to restore their two-goal lead.

From thereon, Vietnam never looked back as they poured in three more goals —  Lan Mai’s second goal that was headed in off a kick in, a scoring run by Tran Thi Thu Xuan where she ran the length of the floor to take an unimpeded shot, and lastly, K’Thua K’Thua’s cut from the outside after a corner kick that led to the sixth and final goal of Vietnam.

It was Vietnam’s third win in three matches and placed the squad on a collision course with Thailand in the finals. But both teams will clash Wednesday, November 20, in the final match of the elimination round. 

The Philippines dropped back to fifth because of a -12 goal differential to Myanmar’s -11. 

The Filipinas will hope for at least a draw or an outright win against Indonesia (7-0 winners over Myanmar last November 19) to play for the battle for third. Anything less will mean that Myanmar advances to the battle for this. 

The Philippines-Indonesia match is scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight at the PhilSports Arena.