The Philippine ?Malditas? ended their impressive run in the Women?s Asian Cup qualifying tournament with a comfortable 4-0 victory over hosts Bangladesh at the Bangabandhu Stadium in the capital of Dhaka.
A heartbreaking 1-0 loss to Thailand which is ranked No. 29 in the world on a controversial goal by the prolific Nisa Romyen which was not disallowed despite the Thai girl being off-side, cost the Philippines a chance to make it to the 2014 Asian Women?s Cup after the Thais topped Group B with 9 points from three matches while the Philippines finished with 6 points following a 6-nil thrashing of Iran and the 4-0 win over Bangladesh.
Thailand turned the ?Malditas? final game into a virtually no-bearing match as they beat Iran 5-1 to qualify. For the Philippines to have had a chance to make it, Iran would have had to perform a miracle by beating Thailand which they failed to do.
A report from the AFC in Dhaka said Maria Park scored two goals, the first of which came in the 19th minute before Christina de los Reyes added a second just before the half-hour mark to give the ?:Malditas? a 2-nil lead at halftime.
Bangladesh which was overwhelmed 9-0 by Thailand on opening day and lost 2-0 to Iran were hoping for a positive ending to their disappointing campaign and they partially succeeded by keeping the Philippines at bay until the 85th minute when defender Catherine Barnekow scored to make it 3-0 after which Park rounded of a fine game by scoring her second goal and the team?s fourth some five minutes into second half stoppage time.
Despite failing to qualify the Philippines ranked 83 in the world put on an impressive showing and proved that women?s football in the country had improved tremendously in a short time.
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