By ADRIAN STEWART CO

The Philippine men’s football team Azkals emerged victorious in front of home fans after a 2-1 beating of Afghanistan in their international friendly match at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium on Tuesday night, September 12.

Jens Sebastian Rasmussen and Christian Rontini delivered a goal each in the latter part of the second half for the Azkals, which scored their first win against Afghanistan after their two previous games in 2006 and 2014 ended in a draw.

“That was a real dogfight of a game,” Azkals goalkeeper Neil Etheridge said after the match.

“When we went down 0-1, the team just continued to fight. That’s what we did today,” he added.

From a scoreless first half, both teams had their share of chances early in the second half until Afghanistan took the lead in the 64th minute courtesy of a goal from Omid Popalzay off an assist by Farshad Noor.

However, the Azkals managed to tie the count 10 minutes later as Rasmussen outrun three Afghan defenders before slotting in a left-footed effort against Faisal Ahmad Hamidi.

The Philippine men’s football team then snagged a 2-1 advantage in the 81st minute, as Rontini netted the go-ahead conversion via a running header from a pass by Bienvenido Maranon.

Rontini said in a post-game interview that he channeled his “inner Christian Ronaldo” when he connected the game-winning conversion against the tight defense of their opponents.

“The fans, they called me CR7 because my name is Christian Rontini. The first goal I scored in there, I just went with the crowd as I do the celebration of Ronaldo because he is my idol,” Rontini said.

The victory served as a bounce back for the Hans Michael Weiss-mentored national squad after being held to a 1-1 deadlock by Chinese-Taipei during their first friendly match last September 8.

Following their two-game friendly window this month, the Azkals will now shift their focus on the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup 2027 joint qualifiers in November./ASC, WDJ