Thailand outlasts the Philippines to advance into AMEC final

c/o Philippine Football Federation

The Philippines were inches away from dethroning Thailand in the ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup 2024, and just minutes away from forcing penalties. But a dramatic Suphanat Mueanta goal deep in extra time put an end to the Filipinos’ Cinderella run in the competition.

“First, I’d like to congratulate Thailand on making the final. Second, I’m very proud of my players. We will come back stronger, I can promise you that. We came here to Thailand and we played against them face-to-face until the last minute,” said Head Coach Albert Capellas after the grueling 120-minute affair at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok.

Entering the match with a 2-1 advantage from the first leg, the Philippines started the contest full of confidence, able to dictate the game in front of the vibrant 31,000 in attendance. Jarvey Gayoso came close to a deserved opener, but his effort was denied by a goal-line clearance.

The seven-time champions eventually wrestled control as the half wore on, and found a breakthrough through captain Peeradol Chamratsamee in the 38th minute, who fired in the opener from a tight angle. That lead was doubled eight minutes after the break, with Patrik Gustavsson tucking away a well placed through ball.

Behind 3-2 on aggregate at that stage, the Philippines needed to find a goal to stay in the tie. They found that lifeline through Bjorn Kristensen, who fired in a beautiful low curling strike from outside of the box to restore parity in the tie. The Filipinos even went on to almost snatch another goal that would’ve sent the team through to the final.

From a dangerous cross in to the box, Amani Aguinaldo’s header forced a good stop from the keeper. The resulting rebound was fired unto the underside of the crossbar, with a third attempt struck goal wards, but deflected out for a corner kick. That unconverted scramble meant the match went into extra-time where Muenta’s heroics at the death ensured the Thais returned to the final.

“I think we played good in the first 20 minutes, and in the last 20 minutes. In the first half of extra time it was an equal game, but in the last 10 minutes we suffered. We couldn’t put pressure on the ball anymore and we allowed too many crosses. Next time we will learn from that lesson and we will come back stronger,” said Capellas, who finished the tournament with a record of two wins, three draws, and one loss. “We just arrived at this level. For a lot of years we couldn’t play these type of games — to fight until the last second against Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam. It’s the first time we are here after a lot of years. We have to learn from this experience. Thailand has been there a lot of years. For this generation of players, this is the first time. All I can promise is that we’ll learn from this and we’ll become stronger.”

Reflecting on a grueling campaign where the team played six games in 18 days, the Spanish tactician couldn’t help but feel a change is needed for future editions of the tournament.

“The competition I think has to be organized in a different way. Our players were completely destroyed physically. We have to take care of the players. They need more rest time in between games. This is not respect for the game, this is not respect to the players,” he said.

He also took time to thank all the support the team garnered over the last few weeks, including the over 10,000 that witnessed the Philippines beat Thailand at the Rizal Memorial Stadium just a few days ago.

“I hope all the Filipinos are proud and that they enjoyed [the efforts of] our squad. They fought a lot. And I hope we get the support from the federation, the government, and from people who love football, to help us grow football in the Philippines, so we’ll have more games like this,” he said. “Thank you very much to all the Filipinos, not only in the Philippines, but around the world. Now we have to move to the next level. We have to have a more powerful league. We have to develop the youth football. We need to invest, and we will come back stronger. We will work very hard to make it happen.”

“Now we know we can do it. We have a very bright future for the National Team of the Philippines for the next few years,” he concluded. The Philippine Men’s National Team will next see action in March, when the campaign to qualify for the 2027 Asian Cup begins.