The Philippine men’s national football team (PMNFT) successfully completed a tense sweep of ASEAN neighbor Timor-Leste, winning its home leg, 3-1, on match day 4 of the 2027 AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers (ACQ) at the New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac on Tuesday.
The team bounced back big in the second half, scoring three goals after trailing by one in the first half.
“It was a completely different game after we scored and I think that we deserved the three points at the end,” said Philippine head coach Carles Cuadrat.
“At the moment it was hard in the first half but I am really proud of the group. We have a big mentality here and I am really proud that we could bounce back from this first half,” added PMNFT’s top forward Bjorn Kristensen, who won his second straight Player of the Match.
After misses from Jefferson Tabinas and Andre Leipold that grazed the goal in the first half, Timor-Leste found its offensive groove and scored its third goal in the past three games, with England-based winger Joao Rangel lobbing the goal from the top left area of the penalty box in the first half injury time.
But the Philippines immediately regrouped and recovered after the halftime break as Tabinas scored off the set piece in the 46th minute, with Sandro Reyes delivering the assist from a right corner kick.
As Timor-Leste dodged several Philippine shots in the ensuing plays, the visitors had a chance at regaining the lead but Marques de Carvalho skied his clear shot in front of goal in the 69th minute.
PMNFT instantly punished that miss, with Kristensen, who hauled four goals in the October 9 game, scoring the go-ahead in the 70th minute off a clinical right-wing link-up with the returning Gerritt Holtmann and assist-passer Jesper Nyholm.
Substitute forward Jarvey Gayoso then scored the finisher in the 90+1 minute off a Randy Schneider set piece for his fourth international goal for the senior squad.
Timor-Leste head coach Ze Pedro commended the Philippines, saying, “I stated right away, I’ve already analyzed the Maldives, I’ve already analyzed Tajikistan, I’ve already analyzed the Philippines, the teams that are part of our group, and I identified before the two games that the Philippines were the strongest team in the group and I continue to say that they are.”
Indeed, PMNFT remains on top of the ACQ Group A with ten points and with a +2 goal difference advantage over Tajikistan.
After absorbing two losses in the October window, both Timor-Leste and Maldives are eliminated from Asian Cup contention.
PMNFT will next face Maldives in Male on November 18 for the penultimate game, before vying for the Asian Cup finals versus Tajikistan in March 2026.
