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| Sofia Harrison scored her three international goal as Filipinas. | PFF |
By: Gil Moriones
MANILA - A relentless and unsympathetic Filipinas was displayed as they galloped the tournament host Tajikstan through 8-0 and their so far biggest win in the continuing Round 1 of Women's Olympic Qualifiers this Black Saturday evening at Hisor Central Stadium.
Their impressive first half showed the quality of the World Cup debutant as they scored already five goals within the span of at least 15 minutes.
Sofia Harrison drew the first blood from her flick at the 26th minute after the perfect setup by Charleigh Frilles while team captain Tahnai Annis contributed for the Filipinas to double their lead at 2-0 as she took an advantage with the collision between Quinley Quezada and the Tajik keeper Saiyora Saldova in the 28th minute.
Three minutes after that goal, Frilles gave the Philippines a comfortable 3-0 lead after the perfect head touch by Merlynn Serrano at the 31st minute.
The freshly turned to 26-year old Quezada was the beneficiary of the recycled ball hustle by Annis as she headed perfectly to the keeper-less goalmouth of the Tajiks to level the lead of the nationals to 4-0 in the 35th minutes.
Sara Eggesvik just finely located Serrano to convert their play into a goal through header to make it 5-0 at the 38th minute mark.
Interestingly, after they conceded five goals, Saidova was subbed and replaced by Munisa Gulova for goalkeeping adjustments by the Tajiks.
Before the end of first half, Maya Alcantara recorded her first international goal to contribute for the Filipinas, 6-0 after she converted through dime from Quezada.
Finally, the comeback timeline for Chandler McDaniel became a colorful on her kit as she strike two goals in the second half of the match in 60th from the assist of Frilles and 80th minute from the nice placement dime by Jaclyn Sawicki.
The same scoreline was noted six years ago in the same soil as they rout the Tajiks during the AFC Women's Asian Cup Qualifiers last April 2017.
A must win or even a draw vs Hong Kong is enough for the Filipinas to advance to the second round of the Olympic Qualifiers this Tuesday.
On the other hand, Thailand, Vietnam, India, and Iran were already qualified for the second round.
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