THE Philippines crashed out of the group stage after settling for a 1-1 draw with Myanmar in their final game of the MSIG Serenity Cup in Vietnam on Aug. 13, 2025.
The Filipinas finished third in their group next to Myanmar and Australia, which routed Timor Leste, 9-0, in the other Group B match and lose the chance to defend the title they won in impressive fashion in 2022.
Caught flat-footed early, the Philippines found themselves a goal down after Olivia McDaniels committed a foul in the box and conceded a penalty to Win Theingi Tun.
“We started a bit too slow and when we started the second half we put a fair bit of pressure on them, we probably could have come with another goal or two,” Filipinas coach Marc Torcaso said during the post-match press conference.
In the second half, the Philippines took the initiative and youngster Nina Mathelus finally converted with 19 minutes left but as Myanmar consolidated its defense, the Philippines was unable to find that go-ahead goal.
“We came into the tournament with some fairly young players, in the end one of those players scored a goal. This was a really good learning curve for us, the coaches, to see some of our players yes we would have like to progress in the next stage but unfortunately we haven’t we will focus on the Asian Cup now,” said Torcaso.
Myanmar will now take on Group A runner-up Thailand, while Australia will face Vietnam. Curiously, three of the four semifinalists lost to the Philippines during the Filipinas 2022 run. The Philippines beat Australia, 1-0, in the group stage, and blanked Vietnam, 4-0, in the semis. In the finals, the Filipinas avenged a 1-0 loss in the Group Stage with a resounding 3-0 win over Thailand.