by Kevin Estrada

Morocco shut the door on the Philippines’ hopes of reaching the knockout phase of the inaugural FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup after coming from behind to beat the hosts 3-2, Monday evening at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig.

With both teams coming from the wrong end of their respective six-goal shutouts on opening day, a win by either side would give their tournament chances a huge boost, and it was the Filipina5 who got their first when Dionesa Tolentin opened the scoring for the country’s first-ever goal at a Futsal World Cup.

The former Far Eastern University standout launched a low-hanging free kick past Kawtar Bentaleb, sending the crowd wild with her historic feat. Four minutes later, Rafa Merino’s side then doubled the lead when Tuloy’s Isabella Bandoja connected with Catherine Graversen, who then finished the counter with her right foot.

However, the Atlas Lionesses then responded fast when pivot Nadia Lafta pulled one back to halve the deficit in the 10th minute, capping off a counter that started with a Jasmine Demraoui picking off the ball from Isabella Flanigan.

Morocco, then duly equalized four minutes after notching their first, when the interchangeable wingers connected on their own counter as Chaymaa Mourtaji found Siiham Tadlaoui, who then fired an open shot past Samantha Hughes.

The knockout blow came three minutes before halftime as Demraoui pounced on a Filipina defence that was caught napping at the worst possible time, slotting her left-footed effort past Hughes, who kept the top African side in contention for the quarterfinals.

Defeat left the Filipinas with two straight defeats, and they will play Group A leaders Argentina on Thursday for their final Futsal Women’s World Cup match. The sixth-ranked side and second-best South American side have already qualified for the quarterfinals after beating Poland by the same odd goal in five.

* * *