By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Philippine Men’s National Football Team wrapped up their King’s Cup campaign with an impressive bronze medal finish on October 14, 2024, at the Tinsulanon Stadium in Songkhla, Thailand.
The trio of Gerrit Holtmann, Zico Bailey, and Jefferson Tabinas led the PMNFT charge, scoring a massive 3-0 victory over Tajikistan to conclude the tournament with a win.
It was a huge victory for the PHL after ending its 10-game losing streak in the international scene, rewarding their new chief tactician Albert Capellas with his first victory since taking over the national team’s program.
The PHL kicked off the bronze medal match with high intensity and already had two chances courtesy of aggressive attempts from Holtmann.
Their high-octane pace wouldn’t end there as the duo of Santiago Rublico and Manny Ott were so close to breaking the deadlock but Tajikistan’s goalkeeper successfully deflected their attempts inside the penalty box.
Two minutes after the halftime buzzer, Holtmann finally gave the PHL the lead after drawing first blood with a powerful left-footed conversion.
After a clearance from goalkeeper Kevin Mendoza, Bjorn Kristensen, who was the recipient of his pass, quickly located the open Holtmann who was already rushing down the opponent’s penalty area.
It was then all PHL as Tabinas and Bailey added two more goals to increase their cushion to three points, a sizable amount of margin that Tajikistan had difficulty catching up.
“We came here with the belief that we could win the tournament, but that wasn’t possible. However, I’m very happy with the first half of the first game and very pleased with our performance today,” said Capellas after their win.
