For eight minutes, the Philippine Women’s National Futsal Team gave the country a glimpse of what could be, only for reality to set in quickly.
Inday Tolentin and Cathrine Graversen’s goals were not enough as the Filipina5 fell 3-2 to a Morocco comeback, eliminating the host nation from contention in the knockouts of the 2025 FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup on Monday at the Philsports Arena.
Earlier, Argentina secured its spot in the quarterfinals with a 3-2 thriller over Poland in the day’s opening match.
Far Eastern University legend Tolentin gave the Philippines a dream start, scoring just four minutes into the game. Graversen then doubled the lead in the eighth minute, sending the majority of the 1,771 fans in Pasig into celebration.
However, 31st-ranked Morocco struck back with three goals in seven minutes. Katrina Guillou’s accidental own goal in the 10th minute opened the door for Siiham Tadlaoui and Jasmine Demraoui, who scored in the 14th and 17th minutes, respectively, giving the Atlas Lionesses their first lead of the match.
In the second half, the Filipinas relied mostly on long-range attempts to turn the game around. They hoped for a penalty, but a video review ruled that the incident involving Demraoui did not warrant a spot-kick.
“We started with two goals, but it wasn’t enough,” said Philippines coach Rafa Merino. “So the team is quite affected by that, but it cannot let us down because we still have one more game to play against Argentina. So after this, we still have to find the strength to fight the next game.”
Picking up from their 6-0 win over Morocco last Friday, Argentina found themselves 3-0 up against Poland at halftime. Silvina Nava opened the scoring just nine minutes into the game, followed by Agostina Chiesa and Lucia Rossi in the 11th and 15th minutes.
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Poland, however, gained a lifeline just before the break when Nava was dismissed for a second yellow card following a foul on Anna Choras. Down to four players early in the second half, Argentina conceded its first goal of the tournament as Aga Bala scored for Poland in the 22nd minute.
The Poles closed the gap further in the 39th minute through Anna Choras. With six seconds left, Poland hoped for a penalty that would complete the comeback, but the referee waived it off after a video review.
“Yes, it’s a great victory for the players,” said Argentina coach Nicolas Noriega. “We’re really happy because our first objective was to advance to the next round. The back-to-back wins put us in the knockouts. Yes, we knew Poland could be a very difficult opponent. Well, I think as the games go on, we’ll try to improve our play.”
Argentina maintained top spot in Group A with six points, while Poland and Morocco are tied with three points each, with Poland ahead due to a superior goal difference of +5 compared to Morocco’s -5.
At the bottom of Group A is the Philippines with zero points.
The group stage concludes this Thursday at the same venue: Poland faces Morocco at 6:00 PM, followed by the Philippines taking on Argentina at 8:30 PM.
