Phil Younghusband scrambles for the first of his four goals in their match against Cambodia on Sunday at Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila. (FCF / Ken Koo)

Phil Younghusband scores quartet, Javier Patiño impressive in debut.

Neither a power outage, nor a heavy downpour could stop the Philippine XI’s best showing in recent memory.

The Philippines made a strong showing on Saturday as they scored an 8-nil massacre of Cambodia in their opening match of the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup Group E qualifiers on Sunday night at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila.

Phil Younghusband scored a rare “natural hat-trick” in the first half alone, consecutively hitting the back of the net in the 25th, 31st and 34th minutes to put the Azkals way ahead. Javier Patiño, who made his first cap in a Philippine uniform, netted one before halftime and another in the 58th minute.

Soon after Patiño’s first goal, a sudden power outage during the first minute of injury time in the first half delayed the match, but play resumed within 20 minutes of the incident.

But rainfall that started around the beginning of the 2nd half strengthened to a strong downpour and thunderstorms that forced officials to mothball the game for an hour, starting around 9 o’clock in the evening.

After an hour, play resumed and resulted in additional goals by Phil Younghusband and Carli De Murga’s last minute result-deciding point.

“Seriously, we should never underestimate any opponent, and that we should respect every opponent,” said head coach Hans Michael Weiss during the post-match press conference.

“We want to win every match, but we have to do it with a smart head.”

On a low note, however, the Philippine side will stand to lose Paul Mulders in their next match due to a red card sustained in the 85th minute on a serious challenge inside the box off a corner kick.

The result was the biggest win by the Azkals since their lopsided 7-nil victory over Timor Leste in 2006, where Phil Younghusband coincidentally also scored four goals.