By ADRIAN STEWART CO

The Philippine women’s football team hacked out a 4-0 beating of Hong Kong to advance to the second round of the 2024 AFC Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament at the Hisor Central Stadium in Tajikistan on Tuesday night, April 11.

Sarina Bolden spearheaded the attack with two goals, while Meryll Soriano and Quinley Quezada added a goal each as the Filipinas swept their three matches in Group E by nine points.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong finished second in the group with six points behind two wins and one defeat, while Tajikistan and Pakistan occupied the last two slots in the group with two losses each.

Bolden, a standout of Western Sydney Wanderers, opened the scoring for the Filipinas in the fifth minute as she put the ball at the back of the net for evading the defense of Hong Kong.

The Filipina-American Bolden doubled the advantage for the Alen Stajcic-mentored national women’s football squad as she connected in the 41st minute from a long pass by Sara Eggesvik.

The FIFA World Cup-bound Filipinas widened the lead further against Hong Kong just before the halftime break as Soriano calmly drained a free kick in the 44th minute of the contest.

The Philippine women’s team did not slow down in the second half as they knocked in the fourth goal of the match with Quezada scoring on a left-footed shot from just outside the penalty box in the 53rd minute.

The Filipinas will now join seeded teams North Korea, Japan, Australia, China, and South Korea, and first-round group winners Vietnam, Thailand, India, Chinese Taipei, Uzbekistan, and Iran in the next phase.

The 12 teams in the second round of the 2024 Paris Olympics qualifier will be grouped into three, with the top teams in each group and the best second placer advancing to the third round.

But before they plunge into action in the qualifiers, the national women’s football team are set to compete in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games slated next month in Phnom Penh, Cambodia./ASC, WDJ