NAGOYA—The Philippine Under-23 Men’s National Football Team, down to ten men in the early minutes of the second half, opened its return to the Asian Games with a 5-1 defeat to Central Asian power Uzbekistan at CS Asset Minato Soccer Stadium on Tuesday.
Uzbekistan enters the tournament as one of the continent’s benchmark U23 programs, having won bronze at the 2022 Asian Games and competed at the 2024 Paris Olympics — both historic firsts for the Central Asian nation. The current squad has also defeated South Korea in this year’s U23 Asian Cup, another of Asia’s traditional powers.
“For over an hour, our boys matched one of Asia’s strongest sides with discipline and courage, and Joshua Meriño’s goal off Antoine Ortega’s throw-in showed real quality,” said PFF President John Anthony Gutierrez. “Playing a man down for the final half hour against a team of Uzbekistan’s caliber changed the complexion of the match, but I’m proud of how hard this group competed in their historic return to the Asian Games.”
Holding midfielder Gavin Muens (left) was a big loss, especially for the Philippines’ defense, after being booked for a red card early in the second half.
Despite the score, the Philippines was competitive for the first 60 minutes. The team held its own defensively and threatened on the counter, with captain Sandro Reyes forcing three first half chances off Scott Woods’ left-sided service, two of which were narrowly off target while the third one was blocked by Saidkhon Khamidov.
Uzbekistan broke through in the 30th minute when Muhammadali Urinboev headed home off a cross from Ollabergan Karimov.
The match turned in the 48th minute when holding midfielder Gavin Muens was shown a red card for a shirt tug on Karimov, leaving the Philippines to play the remainder of the match a man down. Even so, the Philippines continued to create danger, with fullback John Lucero rattling the crossbar in the 60th minute.
Uzbekistan doubled its lead moments later through Saidumarkhon Saidnurullayev off a rapid counterattack, but the Philippines answered two minutes after that, with center back Joshua Meriño tapping in a goal off a long throw from Antoine Ortega to trim the deficit to 2-1.
UAAP talent Joshua Merino (right) is embraced by fellow center back Christian Rontini (right).The UP Fighting Maroon scored the lone goal for the Philippines.
Uzbekistan pulled away in the final 20 minutes, adding three more goals through Saidnurullayev, Ruziboy Fayzullaev, and Mukhammedali Reimov to close out the 5-1 result.
Head coach Garrath McPherson pointed to the physical demands of facing top-tier opposition.
“For the first 50 minutes we were able to compete and stay to our plan for a result. After this time the game for us changes significantly, and we have to suffer physically for longer periods,” McPherson said.
McPherson noted the value of competing closely with a bronze medalist and Olympic team for most of the match.
“We are hurting in this moment due to the way the game finished, but we also understand that up until and just after the send-off we competed with this opponent. It is important that we speak as a group about what we did that allowed us to compete, and also how we could have been better in the first half.”
Looking ahead, McPherson said the challenge now is to level up.
“Now we know and understand what medals at this tournament require, and for two-thirds of the game we were close. We need to discuss and address what will help us move from ‘close to the level’ to ‘above the level.'”
The Philippines will face Vietnam next on September 18 at 2:30 PM (PST) at CS Asset Minato Soccer Stadium — the third meeting between the two nations in the past 13 months.
