By Kevin Estrada

MANILA — Chinese Taipei had flipped the script and spoiled the Philippines’ homecoming with a 1-0 win at the Rizal Memorial Tuesday evening.

The Blue Magpies held the fort for the whole match and dealt the Filipinas setback for the first time on their own patch since Thailand nicked one at the 2022 ASEAN Championship

Saki Matsunaga’s 27th-minute strike was the lone difference between the two sides, as the home side fell.

Sara Eggesvik’s misplaced received pass from Olivia McDaniel was pounced on by Matsunaga, who made no mistake in slotting it past the Stallion Laguna custodian.

Mark Torcaso’s side were frustrated by Taipei’s resolute defending, an ran a tightrope at the hour mark, when Yi-Yun Hsu saw the left post from distance.

Later, the hosts saw their chances thwarted by the Taiwanese backline, and were frustrated ten minutes before full time on a denied penalty appeal when Makati’s Janae DeFazio got clipped from behind by substitute Yi-Wen Li, in the box.

The Filipinas are aiming to recoup at the upcoming Women’s Asian Cup qualifiers.

PHILIPPINES: Olivia McDaniel (GK), Cowart, Long ©, Sawicki (Barker 90+4′), Norman (Hawkinson 64′), Eggesvik, Chandler McDaniel, Ying, Beard, DeFazio, Murray (McSwigan 46’)

CHINESE TAIPEI: YT Wang (GK), SY Su (CL Chang 90′), PL Teng, YY Hsu ©, Matsunaga, HH Pu, JW Chen (JS He 90′), YH Su, YC Chen (YW Li 77’), YY Tseng (YC Liu 77′), KS Huang