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THE Philippines’ strong defense held until the 84th minute, before the Filipinos suffered a 0-1 loss to Iraq on Friday in their third match in the 2026 FIFA World Cup Asian Qualifiers.
New coach Tom Saintfiet said the defensive stance of the young Filipino side was impressive when action ended before 65,000 cheering and jeering fans at the Basra International Stadium in Iraq.
The Filipinos, who still gave Saintfiet a fitting debut with their tough defensive attitude, was able to deflect at least 14 attacks before Mohamad Ali Khadin finally scored in the 84th minute.
“The progress is very good. I think we need to be competitive with Vietnam and Indonesia and I’m impressed with my players that in a short period of time, we could be difficult opponents for Iraq, but in five days time, we will play again and we need to be fresh. Hopefully, we get to surprise Iraq in Manila again,” said Saintfiet after the match.
Team Philippines’ defense was so tight, that the mammoth crowd was already booing the Lions of Mesopotamia for not scoring a goal, until Ali took in a long pass, after getting past a wall of Filipino defenders, flicking the ball past a chasing Neil Etheridge for their lone goal.
“We knew the qualities of Iraq, the wingbacks and the wings. We tried to close the errors and it was clear that for most of the time, Iraq had no answer but they won so in the end, they did everything right. We started three days ago, I saw my players for the first time. Some on Monday and some on Tuesday,” added Saintfiet.
Etheridge one of the experienced players of the team, kept the Iraqis at bay in the first half, stopping Ali from scoring a goal thrice in the first half, while tough defense kept the Lions from making six good attempts during the initial 45 minutes.
The big crowd started to jeer at the Iraqis as the Filipino side held until the last 16 minutes of the contest.
“The Iraqi team, for most of the time, had no solution against the tactical discipline of the Philippines. We analyzed Iraq,” said Sainfiet.
The Filipino side will return to Manila this weekend for their second match against Iraq at the Rizal Memorial Stadium on Tuesday night.
So far, Iraq leads the standings with their third straight win in Group F, while Indonesia trails with their 1-1-1, after their 1-0 beating of Vietnam in Jakarta. — Peter Atencio
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