IR Iran vs The Philippines - AFC Women’s Tournament Game Recap

Cbus Super Stadium was in for a whirlwind of a game between IR Iran and The Philippines, and the teams definitely delivered. The heat of the evening didn’t stop them from playing incredible football. A flurry of goals, substitutions and fouls made for a captivating game.

(Image credit to The AFC)

The Philippines led the game from the first whistle, holding strong possession and taking any attempts on goal they could, eventually they capitalised with a goal in the 29th minute from Sara Eggesvik to put her team 1-0 up against IR Iran.

Not too long after, in the 34th minute, Zahra Sarbali received a yellow card for Iran, putting her at risk of being sent off if she received another one. In the 43rd minute, another yellow card was awarded to Fatemah Pasandideh, keeping the IR Iran team and staff cautious about potential repercussions for the game and further games. 

In the 45th minute, just before half-time, IR Iran substituted Sana Sadeghi off for Zahra Ghanbari to give the team a final push of energy in injury time.

Half-time came around without any more goals for either team following Eggesvik’s sensational first goal. Both teams used the much needed break to hydrate, rest and reset ahead of the next 45 minutes of intense play. 

At the 50-minute mark, Sofia Harrison-Wunsch was substituted in place of Alexa Pino to give the Philippines fresh legs on the pitch to push for another goal to secure the win.

Substitutions between the 60th and 71st minute saw Golnoosh Khosravi, Chandler McDaniel, Ariana Markey and Maryam Dini join the pitch for both sides.

With this new energy and drive on the pitch, the 2,384 spectators could feel the shift as the Philippines substitute, Chandler McDaniel, scored a beautiful goal in the 82nd minute, locking the Philippines in with a 2-0 scoreline.

(Image credit to ESPN)

Both teams knew that there wasn’t much that could be done to change the ending of the game by this point, but it didn’t stop the determined IR Iran team from fighting their hardest. 

A double IR Iran substitution brought Rouijin Tamrian and Zahra Ahmadizadeh on, in place of Fatemah Pasandideh and Fatemah Makhdoumi, for the final stretch of the game.

A final substitution of the Philippines in the 87th minute sent goal scorer, Sara Eggesvik, off for a well-earned break, replacing her with Alessandrea Carpio.

The two sides kept fighting until the final whistle, giving the Philippines their first goal of the tournament and putting them at 3 points, behind South Korea and Australia, who are tied at 7 points each.

Despite the Philippines’ dominant attacking style, Iran managed a 46.7% possession and a whopping total of 12 saves, to the Philippines' 1.

Unfortunately, this ends the tournament for IR Iran, who are in very difficult positions following the war in their home country.

The Philippines will progress to the quarter-finals of the tournament as one of the best third-placed teams in the group stage. They will play against the predicted tournament finalists, Japan, on the 15th of March at Stadium Australia in Sydney.

As the group stages come to a close for these teams, there is no doubt they’ll be reflecting on their performances and hopefully feeling proud of what they've accomplished in the past week. A regional competition is a huge honour for so many of these teams, and it is clear that nobody is taking it for granted.

Article written by Milla Sinfield