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| Jaime Rosquillo's injury hurt the PMNFT's chances late against Vietnam. PFF |
MAKATI--Vietnam found its scoring touch right at the death to keep the Philippine Men's National Football Team away from a breakthrough championship game appearance in the Southeast Asian Games with a 2-0 win on Monday at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok.
Le Van Thuan delivered the heartbreaker for the PMNFT as he hit a header in the 89th minute of the match, which saw the Vietnamese side attempting three shots on target that were saved by Nicholas Guimaraes.
Nguyen Thanh Nahn iced the match for Vietnam with a free kick in the second minute of stoppage time.
Vietnam, which ruled the 2019 event in Manila, will now await the winner of the semifinal between host team Thailand and Malaysia later Monday in the gold medal match on Thursday.
The PMNFT, on the other hand, will play the losing semifinalist later in the night in the bronze medal match.
The concern is whether Jaime Rosquillo, who apparently hurt his hamstring in the 51st minute against Vietnam, will suit up in the consolation game.
The decision of Garreth McPherson to sub out Rosquillo, who was grimacing in pain, became the turning point of the match as Vietnam began punishing the left flank, where Rosquillo was manning for most of the match.
In line with the PMNFT's semifinal return, the Philippine Football Federation and Puma hosted a watch party at Studio 300 match here.
