On the heels of the women’s team’s milestone championship, the Philippine U22 football squad fell short of its own attempt at history in the 33rd Southeast Asian Games on Thursday.
Taking the pitch carrying a lot of good vibes from the Filipinas’ epic rise as SEAG queens the night before in Chonburi, the PMNFT went all out for a breakthrough bronze medal in men’s football but conceded a 2-1 loss to Malaysia in the battle for third at the Rajamangala Stadium.
Two first-half goals from the Young Tigers proved enough to get them to the podium while relegating the Filipinos to fourth place, matching their best finish previously posted in 1991 in Manila.
Salahudin Hakimi took advantage of a scramble in front of the Philippine goal to knock in the equalizer at the 28th minute.
With a bit of luck, the Filipinos drew level eight minutes later with Rosli Hazim heading Antoine Ortega’s throw-in to the Malaysians’ own net.
But the deadlock only lasted for seven more minutes as Rozli Azim found enough space to operate in transition and get past Philippine keeper Nicholas Guimaraes to slot in the go-ahead goal.
Though without a medal, the Filipinos can still take some positives from this campaign.
Sweeping their two assignments in Group C, 2-0 against Myanmar and 1-0 against defending champion Indonesia, the squad ended 34 years of early exits and made the semis again.