Filipinas lose to Matildas, 8-0, in Olympic qualifiers

The Philippine women’s national football team suffered a painful 8-0 rout against Australia in the second round of the AFC Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament on Sunday, Oct. 29, at the Optus Stadium in Perth, Australia.

The world No. 44 Filipinas simply had no answer to the Matildas before the sold out 60,000 home crowd as their road to the Olympiad hit a snag.

After their brilliant 4-1 comeback win over Chinese Taipei, the Nationals couldn’t carry over and translate the momentum against Australia.

Prior to their matchup, the Filipinas were ahead of the Matildas in Group A after their respective opening games.

Sarina Bolden, who has put the Filipinas in the scoreline in their past five international fixtures, couldn’t give the Nationals their breakthrough.

The Filipinas were down as much as 5-nil in the first half as their defense couldn’t pick up on the Matildas’ tireless onslaught.

Mary Fowler opened the scoring after 15 minutes off an Ellie Carpenter pass to lead early into the match.

Aussie star striker Sam Kerr then followed suit with a goal of her own in the 19th minute and went on to deliver a hat trick.

Caitlin Foord slotted her first goal of the match in the 30th minute to also eventually finish with a hat trick of her own.

As if the beating wasn’t good enough, Clare Wheeler gave the Matildas an 8-0 lead in the 72nd minute on a right-footed goal on a Foord pass.

Australia rose as the top seed with six points and a goal differential of +10, while the Philippines slid in the second spot with three points and an inferior GD of -5.

The Filipinas will resume action and aim for a second best place finish when it tackles the winless Iran side on Wednesday, Nov. 1, at 4 p.m. (Manila time).