By Jerome S. Galunan, Jr.

Despite the Philippine U13 football team, led by the Negros Occidental Football Association, defeating Laos, 2-1, in the Soong Ching Ling Cup in Beijing, China, it was not enough to qualify for the finals and the Philippine side will be competing for third place.

The Filipino squad will face China, who they earlier defeated, 3-0, in their opening match.

In their match against Laos, the Philippines found themselves down 1-0 in the first half, but went on to earn a comeback win.

“The players didn’t give up,” said head coach Ronald Ian Treyes. “It will have a positive effect on the team going into the third place battle.”/JSG, WDJ