Football
ASEAN futsal: Philippines suffers second loss to Malaysia
The Philippine national men’s futsal team suffered its second straight loss in the ASEAN Football Federation Futsal Championship, dropping a 4-1 result to Malaysia Saturday in Bangkok.
It was a scoreless game at the half, with both teams squandering opportunities to score. Azkals mainstay Misagh Bahadoran, the Philippines’ leading scorer, missed a penalty at the seventh minute that would have given his team the lead.
Malaysia came out firing in the second half, with Muizzudin Mohd Haris breaking the ice at the 24th minute. Zubaidee Alwee and Qaiser Heshaam Abdul Kadir added to the Filipinos’ woes, scoring at the 30th and 34th minute, respectively.
Bahadoran tried to rally the Philippines with a late goal, his seventh in the competition, but Ahmad Fawzul scored anew for Malaysia to put the game away.
The loss virtually eliminated the Philippine side from the semifinals. To advance past the group stage, the team needs to defeat Cambodia by a large margin and hope that either Vietnam or Malaysia loses their two remaining games.
After winning their opener against Myanmar, 5-4, the Filipinos succumbed to Vietnam, 6-1, in their second outing.
The Philippines wraps up its campaign on Monday against Cambodia, which remains winless in the competition after two games.
