The Philippines celebrates after beating Thailand in the Asean Cup.–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net The Philippine men’s football team could either fashion out a historic achievement on Monday night or see its Asean Mitsubishi Electric Cup campaign come to an end in enemy territory.
“[We have] to go into the game with the right mentality,” midfielder Zico Bailey said as the Filipino side aims for a first-ever final at the expense of Thailand in the second leg of their semifinal tie at Bangkok’s Rajamangala Stadium. The match is set at 9 p.m.
Philippine time (8 p.m. local time) with local football fans to glue in on a potential famous result.
A draw will be enough for coach Albert Capellas to defeat the defending champion War Elephants and secure the country’s biggest achievement in the history of the great Southeast Asian competition. But the Philippines, which claimed an incredible 2-1 win in the home leg last Friday at Rizal Memorial Stadium, is still keen on getting more than the desired result and not allow Thailand, still the fancied side, to create an opening for a potential turnaround. “[The home leg] was the [like the] first final.
We checked that box,” said Bailey. “So now, it’s just [like] another final and we treat it the same way we treated this [first leg].” Sandro Reyes’ sensational strike put the Philippines ahead before defender Kike Linares’ last-gasp header put Thailand in a situation of needing a one-goal win to force two 15-minute extra .