Filipinas boost Olympic qualifying bid

THE Philippines once again turned on the heat in the first half to smother host Tajikistan, 8-0, on Saturday night, and grab the solo lead in Group E of the Asian Football Confederation Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament’s first round at the Hisor Central Stadium in Tajikistan.

This time, the Filipinas struck with six goals in the first half for their second straight triumph and moved closer to a second-round seat.

Fil-American Sofia Harrison, a five-year veteran, who recently played for Werder-Bremen in the Bundesliga, drew first blood the 26th minute, before skipper Tahnai Annis quickly sent in another volley in the 28th minute.

“In the first half, we were a lot better, in the second half we took our foot off the pedal a bit,” said Filipinas’ coach Allen Stajcic in a statement sent to Filipino scribes. More goals came in succession, with Carleigh Frilles striking some three minutes later in the 31st.

Annis then came to aid of Quinley Quezada’s header from up close in the 35th minute, before Meryll Serrano gave the the Filipinas their fifth goal.

After that, Sara Eggesvik pushed home a sixth goal. Hong Kong earlier won over Pakistan, 2-0, to share the lead with the Philippines. They are set to clash on Tuesday in a playoff for a spot for the second round.

The Filipinas put six goals past the hosts in the first half before substitute Chandler McDaniel grabbed a second-half brace to increase her tally to three goals in the first round of qualifying.

The win pushed the Filipinas’ tally to six points, ahead of Hong Kong on goal difference.

Stajcic said they are looking forwad to a challenging encounter with Hong Kong.

“We are on top of the table now and look forward to a tough game against Hong Kong. We’ll have a look see how fresh everyone is. Hong Kong is on six points just like us. It will be a tough game, a very close game, but if we play well, I’m confident we can get the job done,” said Stajcic.