Filipinas blank Iran, stay in the playoff hunt at AFC Women's Asian Cup

By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA

The Philippine women’s football team went full throttle and blanked Iran, 2-0, to keep its campaign alive in the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup at the Gold Coast Stadium in Australia on Sunday, March 8.

Sara Eggesvik struck first, firing a right-footed shot from the center of the box into the bottom-right corner in the 29th minute, with the goal confirmed after a VAR review.

Chandler McDaniel doubled the lead in the 82nd minute, finishing with a right-footed strike from the center of the box to the bottom-left corner off an assist from Ariana Markey.

It was the Filipinas’ first win in the tournament, finishing the group stage with a 1-0-2 win-draw-loss record for third place in Group A while dealing the Iranians their third straight setback.

The Nationals first lost to host Australia, 0-1, then to South Korea, 0-3.

The victory also kept the Nationals’ playoff hopes alive, as two additional berths reserved for the best third-place finishers across the three preliminary groups to join the top two teams from each bracket.

Already advancing in Group A are South Korea and Australia, who had identical 2-1-0 win-draw-loss cards after settling for a 3-3 draw in their match earlier in Sydney.

Also advancing automatically are North Korea and China in Group B, and Japan in Group C.

Chinese Taipei, which beat Vietnam, 1-0, on Saturday is in contention for the last playoff seat.

This put Vietnam in contention for the two third-placed teams to qualify, along with Uzbekistan and Bangladesh, which is slated to play their last match on Monday, March 9.

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