Photo from https://www.aseanfootball.org
JAKARTA—Thirsting for a victory in whatever form after 10 days of the 26th Southeast Asian Games, the Philippines finally tasted one Friday.
And it came from a team that had bowed out of it all even before the formal Games opening happened.
Joshua Beloya knocked in two goals in the waning minutes to lift the Philippines to a 3-2 victory over Laos at the Lebak Bulus pitch here as the Azkals salvaged some measure of respect after two early losses.
“It was the craziest game of my life,” Philippine coach Michael Weiss said of Beloya’s goals, which came in the 90th minute and in the third minute of injury time.
The Negrense came to the rescue of the beleaguered Azkals just when it looked like they were headed for a third straight defeat after Laotian striker Singto Lamnao drilled in two goals for a 2-1 lead in the 47th minute.
And like in their first two games, it looked like the Azkals were again ready to go down despite scoring the first goal of the match.
Matthew Hartmann missed the game and reportedly went home in protest against his suspension. Sources said that Hartmann wouldn’t have played Friday night after violating a still-unspecified team rule.
Despite the gallant win, the Azkals will need something absolutely crazy to happen in Group B to gain the crossover Final Four.
Leaders Myanmar and Vietnam have seven points each, while Timor Leste, whose 2-1 victory over the Philippines on Monday had Weiss apologizing to the Fiilipino fans back home, is in third with a 2-0-1 record for six points.
Myanmar and Vietnam will still play three more games, and draws in their final matches would more or less make them unreachable as far as the Philippines is concerned.
The Philippines clashes with Myanmar on Sunday at 4 p.m.
Meanwhile, Joey Barba, the daredevil veteran downhill biker, shoots for the Philippines’ first cycling gold on Saturday. He is fancied to win the event for the third straight time, having won in 2005 in Manila and then in Nakhon Ratchasima two years later before the event was scrapped in Vientiane, Laos, in 2009.
“He’s ready, his best times in that event are enough to give him a gold here,” said Philippine coach and Tour veteran Norberto Oconer.
Incidentally, Barba is the only Filipino in his event with host Indonesia and Malaysia having three entries each and Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam being represented by two each.
Meanwhile, seven gold medals are at stake each in karate and taekwondo, which also gets going Saturday.
James Delos Santos and Racquel Luzares set out in the morning preliminaries of the men’s and women’s individual kata.
The charming poomsae trio of Rani Ortega, Camille Alarilla and Janice Lagman, the world champion two years ago, open their bid Saturday morning, along with Vidal Marvin Gabriel who will take part in the preliminaries of men’s individual poomsae at the Popki Sport Hall.
The two other jins seeing action Saturday are Ma. Camille Manalo (kyorugi, 62 kg) and Jeffrey Figueroa (kyorugi, 74 kg).