Philippines struck three times in the opening four minutes to virtually seal the fate of the match as they demolished Iran in the AFC Asian Cup group B qualifiers opener yesterday.
Before the tournament Malditas coach Ernie Nierras spoke about his ambition which is to qualify from the current group to the finals and further take the 83rd Fifa ranked side in the women’s World Cup 2015. The opening encounter only reflected what made the coach aim so high.
"We know that we have a strong team. We have a system that is capable to score. We have confidence in what we are doing and we know we can win games. Today we proved that our system works," said Ernie after the game.
"We are the only team that is playing with 3-6-1 formation. This is the same system that we use in the professional team (men's) in Philippines. This is something that we did, not because it is gaming but this is the playing style of the Filipinos. We have a lot of midfielders and we take advantage of that," said Ernie whose own daughter Samantha Nierras also plays for the Malditas and featured in the last five minutes yesterday.
The Malditas have to cross the highest peak of the group to confirm their qualification for the final round when they face favourites Thailand in the next match. After scoring five goals in the first-half, the Malditas added just one more after the breather. The coach revealed that, “I'm sure they (Thailand) are watching us. So I don’t want to expose our game plan so I had to change things a little bit (after the break).”
Meanwhile, Iran coach Helena Costa admitted that the first four minutes made all the difference which created an emotional breakdown in the team. "The inattention of my players in the first four minutes decided the match immediately. Then it was difficult to grow up the emotion of the players," said the Portuguese coach.