Despite the presence of the Super Typhoon Pepito looming over the Metro, Filipino fans flocked to the Philsports Arena in Pasig to cheer for the Philippine Women’s Futsal National Team. Just like the opening game, the crowd went all out to cheer for the Pinay 5 as they locked horns with World Number 6— Thailand. 

After hitting the crossbar twice, it only took five minutes for the Thais to score the opening goal off a rebound, care of Sangrawee Meekham, then two minutes after, Sangwirtee Mamyalee scored from a free kick to make it 2-0, as the Thais showed their quality and the importance of familiarity in a tournament like this. Sam Hughes who played in goal for the Philippines had a friend in the woodwork at times but the exquisite passing and fluid play of ‘Toh-Lek’ showed pure domination as Paerploy Huajaipetch and Darika Peanpailun were on the receiving end of tiki-taka style of play to slot home their third and fourth goal of the evening respectively. 

The second half was still dominated by Thailand as Lalida Chimpabut headed in the fifth goal inside the box, then Sangrawee Meekham tucked home the sixth goal as she was gifted her second goal of the evening. Nattamon Artkla ended the evening with an exclamation point as she scored a left-footed strike just a few meters outside the penalty box eight minutes into the second half. 

The home team showed some flashes of brilliance but just couldn’t seem to convert their chances. Victor Hermans, the coach of the Philippines, shared during the press conference last Friday, that he was looking forward to this specific match-up since Surapong Plyouwong was his assistant when he was still at the helm for Thailand from 2012-2016. 

The Pinay 5 still have two more games to play to try and get a maximum of seven points as they battle Vietnam on the 19th and Indonesia on the 20th, both games are set to kick-off at 7 PM at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.