THE Philippines banked on the heroics of Daisuke Sato to win their second straight match late Tuesday evening in group F of the Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup Qualifiers.
Sato struck from outside of the box in the 79th minute to lead the Philippine Azkals to a 4-3 win over Tajikistan at the Pamir Stadium in Dushanbe.
This put the Azkals on top of Group F and ahead of Yemen, which will be their next rival.
The Azkals improved their chances of reaching the 2019 AFC Asian Cup if they beat Yemen in their Sept. 5 encounter at the Panaad field in Bacolod.
Yemen earlier played Nepal to a scoreless draw at the Halchowk Stadium in Kathmandu.
Phil Younghusband struck first for the Azkals.
He silenced the loud Dushanbe crowd with a curling free kick past Abduaziz Makhkamov in the 27th minute.
Then, Javier Patiño made it 2-0 with just four minutes before half time when he converted Mike Ott’s pass.
They tripled their lead three minutes after the restart when Patino braced with a net strike after receiving Ott’s pass.
Tajikistan fought back with two goals in a four-minute span, with Tajik captain Parvizjon Umarboev scoring from the spot in the 57th minute.
Four minutes later, substitute Dilshov Vosiev rocked the crowd after scoring on a counterattack.
