By Peter Atencio
Phnom Penh—The Philippines was denied several scoring chances as Myanmar took control early and got away with a 1-0 triumph Wednesday night in the opening game of the 2023 Southeast Asian Games women’s football tournament at the RCAF Old Stadium here.
Wing Theing Tun found her chance in the 89th minute by scoring a penalty shot, to hand the Asian Lionesses their first triumph in Group A.
Defending champion Vietnam took a share of the lead with Myanmar following their 3-0 beating of Malaysia.
The Filipinas missed five scoring opportunities during the additional minutes of play.
The Allen Stajcic-coached Filipinas will seek to recover from their misfortune on Saturday when they face Malaysia.
“Tough game, tough match in tough conditions. Myanmar got through at a lucky moment,” said Stajcic before he and Filipinas quickly left the stadium after the loss.
Fans from the nearby Filipino community of Borey Cham Chao showed up to cheer for the Filipinas.
Philippine Football Federation secretary general Edwin Gastanes, who came to watch with Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham Tolentino and Philippine Sports Commission chairman Richard Bachmann, acknowledged the presence of Filipino fans, hoping that more will come in the next games to cheer the Filipinas on.
“The CAMSOC has given us 100 tickets for every game. I told the staff to give members of the Filipino community in their appreciation of the Filipino delegation,” said Gastanes.