Wednesday, March 07, 2007 Pinoys lose heartbreaker
A LAST minute penalty burned the hopes of the Philippines of making it to the semifinals after losing to Brunei, 2-3, in the Hassanal Bolkiah Trophy Under 21 tournament in Brunei late Monday night.
The loss dropped the Philippines to last with no points in two games, while Brunei took second spot with four points on a win and a draw.
Powerhouse Myanmar, which thrashed the Philippines, 9-1, last Saturday, is still at first with six points after routing Cambodia, 7-0, also last Monday.
The best the Philippines, which is led by team captain and Chelsea reserve Philip Younghusband, could do now is spoil the semifinal hopes of Cambodia in their final match today.
Cambodia needs to beat the Philippines by a wide margin and hopes Myanmar will do the same to Brunei to catch up with the host on goal difference. Seven goals and three points currently separate Brunei and Cambodia, who played to a 2-2 draw last Friday.
In yesterday’s match (shown in the event’s website at 10 a.m. yesterday) Eliezer Fabroada gave the Philippines the lead in the fourth minute and Philip Younghusband, who was brought down in the 41st, made the host pay by converting the penalty for a 2-0 halftime lead.
Cebuano youngster Michael Sharpe, who was benched in the first game, started in the second and played the full match. He was also yellow carded in the early in the second half after a tackle.
In the second half, Brunei finally scored after the defense left Hj Khairol Anwar uncontested in redirecting a corner in the 56th.
Brunei could have gone level a few minutes later but keeper Jaypee Coopera managed to stop another uncontested header from point-blank range.
“When the game entered the second half, the players showed a good game and managed to score. However, there are still many areas that need improvement before going against Myanmar,” Brunei coach Pengriran Haji Yussoff told hassanalbolkiahtrophy.com.bn.
Younghusband, who has added two goals to his six goals scored in last year’s Asean Football Federation qualifiers, got booked after pushing a defender, while Micky Anak Gindi also got a yellow card for diving inside the box.
In the 88th, Abdul Hafiz bin Ahad got the home crowd on their feet with an equalizer from long range before the penalty call in the final minute gave Ak Mohd Kamarul Arffin a chance for the gamewinner.
However, the replay of the incident doesn’t appear to show any contact between the Filipino defender and the fallen striker.
Making matters worse, the Philippines will lose Matthew Hartmann in today’s match after the Fil-Briton earned his second yellow when he took a shot after he was called for offside. (ML)
