Jakarta: Otu Bisong Banatao netted two goals as the Philippines kicked off their campaign at the ASEAN U-23 Mandiri Cup™ 2025 on Tuesday with a stunning 2-0 win over Malaysia.
Malaysia dominated possession at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium but were caught twice on the counter-attack in the first half with Otu Bisong turning in crosses by Javier Mariona and substitute Uriel Dalapo to put the Philippines in control.
The Malaysians turned up the pressure after the interval with Fergus Tierney twice going close but they could not find a way past goalkeeper Nico Guimaraes as they suffered a damaging defeat in their Group A opener.
Malaysia exerted much of the early pressure with Guimares called into action to stop a stinging effort by Aliff Izwan Yuslan from 10 metres out.
But the Philippines took the lead against the run of play after nine minutes when Mariona ran onto a long ball and surged past Aiman Hakimi on the left before sending in a low cross which was turned in at the near post by Otu Bisong.
The goal stung Malaysia into action and they went close to levelling on several occasions as Haqimi Azim Rosli and Aliff shot wide when well placed before Haqimi’s shot from range hit the underside of the crossbar with Guimaraes producing a great save to deny Aliff on the rebound.
The Philippines caught the Malaysian on the counter again in the 40th minute as Dalapo beat Aiman for pace on the left before sending an excellent low cross to Otu Bisong, who guided the ball past Zulhilmi Sharani from the edge of the box
Jax Peña nearly added another for the Philippines early in the second half with a right-footed shot from distance which rocked the crossbar.
However, they remained watertight at the back with Tierney seeing his shot on the turn superbly stopped by Guimaraes, before Peña produced a fine block on the line to deny the Malaysian forward.
Nabil Qayyum Zainuddin had a final opportunity in stoppage time to pull a goal back for the Malaysians but his effort hit the crossbar as the Philippines hung on for a deserved 2-0 win.
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