MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine men’s national football team advanced to the Asean Mitsubishi Electric Cup semifinals after defeating home team Indonesia, 1-0, at the Manahan Stadium in Surakarta on Saturday night.
With the win, the Philippines totaled six points in Group B to finish second behind Vietnam with 10 points and make the Final Four of the tourney for the first time since 2018.
This is also the first time that the Philippines beat Indonesia since its 4-0 triumph in the 2014 ASEAN Championship.
Bjørn Kristensen delivered the lone goal of the contest at the 63rd minute when he calmly shot a penalty kick.
The Philippines earned a penalty following a VAR review of a foul on Yrick Gallantes.
“The Philippines deserve to be in the semifinals for all they did in all games. We should have qualified before already, we didn’t because we missed a lot of chances, and today finally, it was on our side,” said Philippine national team head coach Albert Capellas.
“I’m very happy for the players, I’m very happy for all our staff, I’m very happy for everyone in the Federation, and I’m very happy for the country of the Philippines.”
Collecting one win and three draws, the Filipinos will face Group A leader Thailand in the two-leg semifinals while Vietnam will face Group B second placer Singapore in the other semis pairing.
The first leg will be held at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila on December 27 and the second is set on December 30 at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok.
