THE FILIPINAS fell short of completing a two-game sweep of its assignments at the Pink Ladies Week in Antalya, Turkey as they sustained a 1-4 defeat to Kenya on Wednesday.
On the heels of their 3-0 shutout of Jordan a dew days before, the Filipinas sought another impressive result but found the fast and aggressive Harambee Starlets to tough a customer and settled for a 1-1 win-loss mark in this trip.
“I’m disappointed because I felt like throughout the week, the girls responded well to the new system,†said coach Mark Torcaso, whose team used the camp and competition in Turkey to test its new attack-oriented playing style.
“We didn’t execute that completely. There were a lot of individual errors, small errors that when you’re trying to put together a game plan, can affect you. And against a team like Kenya, who are quick, physical and have good individual players that play in good leagues around the world, they can punish you.â€
Kenya set the tone with a quickfire goal from Elizabeth Mutukiza just seven minutes in. The Harambee Starlets’ lead doubled in the 36th minute when Jessica Cowart’s clearance off a dangerous cross on the right side ricocheted off Hali Long and into the Philippine net.
The Filipinas pushed one back 20 minutes after restart as Sarina Bolden converted from the spot. But the Kenyans quickly restored a two-goal lead with a wonder goal from substitute Purity Alukwe before Fasila Adhiambo added a fourth with nine minutes left to ice it.
“This was an opportunity for us to implement something. We’re going to stick with that. We’re still going to work hard on what we’re trying to do. But we also have to understand that we can’t make errors in situations that could cause us problems, and we definitely saw some of those today,†said Mr. Torcaso. — Olmin Leyba
