Philippines midfielder Jessica Miclat battles Australia's Mackenzie Hawkesby for control of the ball in their ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Women's Championship match in Manila on July 4, 2022. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News
MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippine women's national football team looks to make it two wins in two matches when they take on lower-ranked Singapore in the 2022 AFF Women's Championship, Wednesday at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium.
The Filipinas will bring plenty of momentum into the match after their historic 1-0 victory against Australia on Monday night.
Sarina Bolden broke the deadlock in the 60th minute, scoring with her head off a long throw-in by Eva Madarang before some fine defending by the Filipinas secured three points in their first match of the competition.
"For us to match [Australia], even in the first half,. was really pleasing. But we addressed a few things at halftime, and the players came out raring to go and showed that they could compete and even improve throughout the match, which is really important," Philippines head coach Alen Stajcic said.
"I'm really pleased with the result and the performance," he added.
Stajcic commended the effort put in by the Filipinas on defense, as they held the young Australians to just a handful of chances throughout the match. The Matildas didn't feature their senior team, but they still had plenty of experience: six members of the Australian team have been capped by their senior squad.
Post-match statistics showed that while Australia had more possessions, they managed just four shots -- only one of which was on target.
"To limit Australia to maybe four chances throughout 90 minutes is really an amazing effort. I don't think you can underscore how big an effort that is, to keep a team like that down to just four or five chances throughout a match," said Stajcic.
While he was pleased with the Filipinas' performance, Stajcic also stressed that they must be quick to switch their focus to their next match. They play Singapore, a team ranked 132nd in the world by FIFA, on Wednesday night.
"This is a good building block," said Stajcic of the win against Australia.
"Come midnight, we really have to switch focus for the next game," he stressed.
Singapore battled 85th-ranked Malaysia to a goalless draw in the first game of the tournament on Monday afternoon, amid rainy conditions at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium.
Kick off is at 7 p.m.
At 4 p.m., Australia will try to bounce back against Thailand, also at the Rizal Memorial. Meanwhile, Indonesia will play Malaysia at the Imus Grandstand at 7 p.m.