By Cedelf P. Tupas
Philippine Daily Inquirer
An improved Philippine women�s side yielded to powerhouse Myanmar, 0-2, in controversial fashion Monday in the AFF Women�s Championship at the National Stadium in Vientiane, Laos.
Playing their first international match in two years, the Malditas fell behind in the fourth minute and were down 0-2 by halftime, before holding their ground in the second half�a performance they will try to build on when they face Thailand at 4 p.m. Wednesday.
Natasha Alquiros couldn�t make the most of the Malditas� best chance in the 30th minute when her shot only flew inches above the crossbar, before the Malditas were denied a penalty for a Myanmar handball in the second half.
The result left Malditas coach Ernie Nierras enraged, claiming that Myanmar�s first goal was offside and his team should have been given a penalty for the blatant handball.
�I�m pissed, the girls are pissed,� Nierras said. �We would have won this game. I would not be upset if Myanmar was totally superior.�
Nierras said his players looked a little jittery in the first half, but �did quite better offensively in the second and even had a few good attempts.�
�The second half was ours,� he said. �Myanmar ran out of steam. Our girls kept attacking until the final whistle. Myanmar couldn�t even get out of its own half in the final 10 minutes.�
Even Myanmar coach Yoshinori Kumada was surprised at the Malditas� gallant stand.
�Sure we were expecting to score lots of goals but the Philippines have improved a lot and that made it tough for us,� said Kumada in an article on aseanfootball.org.
The Malditas have no recourse but to beat Thailand and win via a big margin against Malaysia in their last group match to stand a chance of moving into the semifinals.
Only the top two teams from each group will advance to the last four.
�If Thailand wants to win this game, they would have to take it from us,� said Nierras.
inquirer.net
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